The Thin Line
by AnimeRockerFangirl
Summary: Ino's the new girl in school and falls for the most popular guy, Itachi Uchiha. But, he's an apathetic lady's man whom seems to be playing with her feelings. On which side of the line will her feelings for him lye? Rated for Lemon & Language
1. Chapter 1

**Oh boy, it's been a while since I've written a chapter story! This was originally intended as a one-shot**

**that I'd upload when I was done. However, Miss Jade had me keep adding**

**and adding until it was a full blown story. I can't complain though, it was fun to write! We'll have to ****see**

**how long it takes me to finish this one and don't laugh at my crappy ****title**

**please! Thank you and enjoy! (And review, God Damnitt!)**

**P.S. Sorry for any mistakes, I'm my own editor and have very little patience!**

**The Thin Line**

Chapter 1:

"Ino, are you really going like that?" Her mother circled her with a look of slight disdain on her face.

"Are you aloud to do that to your uniform? I mean… Isn't it inappropriate?"

Ino pulled her navy blue school skirt down slightly, hopefully enough to get her mother off her black. All though what she was being nagged about was the black halter-vest over her white school shirt, with its long sleeves rolled up near her shoulders, her cross tie undone, and her sleek, black thigh highs currently adorned her legs. Her black Mary Janes completed the look.

"Don't worry, mom, it's a rich kid school, so long as we pay the tuition they don't mind. Besides, I'm still technically wearing the uniform. Anyways, I gotta go! It's a twenty minute walk and school starts in half an hour!"

Ino hurriedly picked her book bag up and threw it over her right shoulder.

"See you after school!" She ran out the door, slightly excited to start a new school as a junior.

"Don't forget the cram school forms!" her mother yelled down their shrub surrounded walk way after her daughter.

"'Kay, Mom!" Ino yelled back and slowed to a walk as soon as she knew she was out of ear-shot of her mother. She scratched at the fancy crest on her shoulder, slightly hidden by her rolled up sleeve.

_Who puts the crest on the sleeve?_ She thought. But the thought was soon drowned out by the sound of a motorcycle making its way up the street behind her. She caught sight of it as it sped beside her and instantly noticed the slightly hidden crest on the driver's right shoulder; it was the same as hers.

_Wow, I didn't know anyone in high school drove…_ _I wonder if I'll ever meet that guy…? Hmm, probably not!_

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

The school looked like any other school in Japan, except the campus was larger, looked much newer and as soon as you walked in everything seemed much brighter instead of dimmer. Ino took a deep breath and made her way inside. The halls were somewhat populated, students walking up and down. Ino stopped at the entrance and looked at the small cubbies, each with either a pair of shoes or slippers in them. She read the names below each one, not sure if she had one or not, until a woman, appearing to be in her mid thirties, came up to her.

"Good morning, how may I help you?" The woman had shoulder length, black, wavy hair and deep crimson eyes.

"Umm, my name is Ino Yamanaka; I'm supposed to be starting school here today?" She shifted nervously.

"Ahh, you're the one they said was coming a month late. You're a junior, aren't you?" Ino nodded. "Then you'll be in building C. I'll escort you there, it's a big campus, you might get lost."

"Thank you very much!" Ino bowed her head slightly to the woman who began exchanging her gray slippers for her shoes. They exited and began walking down a small sidewalk.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Kurenai Yuhi. I'm the girls P.E. teacher. So, are you excited to start school here?"

"Oh, I am! I always liked moving to new places and trying new things…"

"Well, this is definitely going to be a good experience. Ah, we're here!"

They came upon a building identical to the other two they'd passed, the only differences being this one was much larger.

"This building is for all the juniors and seniors. I believe you already have a cubby and slippers prepared for you."

They searched through the cubby holes until they found Yamanaka, Ino in bold, black letters near the bottom. Ino exchanged her Mary Janes for the purple slippers in the cubby and silently pondered the reason for wearing the heels in the first place. Kurenai quickly explained the directions to the building's main office so she can find out where and what her classes were and who her teachers were.

Ino made her way to the main office and a man named Iruka Umino quickly lead her to her classroom, #4 which was on the third of five floors in the building. Iruka knocked on the door to the classroom, which was opened by a man in a dark polo shirt and slacks. His hair was spiked up and he was angrily chewing gum.

"Good Morning, Sarutobi-Sensei, this is-"

"Ino Yamanaka… Wow, she really is blonde. Come on in, you're lucky we always start class late."

With that Iruka left and Ino stepped into the classroom. She looked around to find the students were similar to that of her last school. There were obvious groups of preps, Goths, jocks and so on. Some girls dressed strictly in their uniform, some changed theirs up like Ino had and some simply looked like sluts. The guys seemed to enjoy altering their uniforms too, keeping their shirts un-tucked and rolling their sleeves up to reveal their arms. The only difference between this crowd and the one at her previous school was that they all looked a great deal better as well as a great deal richer. Diamond bracelets and gold chains everywhere, Ino felt incredibly under-blinged. Sarutobi-Sensei grabbed a meter stick and banged it on his desk, causing nearly everyone to jump and quiet down immediately.

"Get in your seats, we're starting class now! And this-" he jerked the meter stick in Ino's direction, "is our new student. Go ahead and introduce yourself," the man sat in the chair behind his large desk and relaxed the meter stick on its top. Ino bowed slightly.

"My name's Ino Yamanaka, it's nice to meet you all."

The female population of the class followed the leaders of their cliques and gave lazy hi's and waves while majority of the male population took the introduction as an excuse to eye Ino, most of their eyes lingering on her legs and chest.

"All right, put your eyes back in your heads before you get a stand," Sarutobi-Sensei stated, noticing where they boys' attention was. "Ino, why don't you take a seat near… let's try and find a good apple… Hinata! Raise your hand."

A pale hand wearing a large, baby blue ring on the ring finger slowly went into the air. It belonged to a girl with shoulder length, navy blue hair and pale, lilac eyes sitting next to a window. Ino travelled a few rows back to sit next to the girl. She gave a weak smile.

"Hi, my name is Hinata Hyuuga; it's nice to meet you Ino."

Ino smiled back and the class began.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"All right, class, that's enough of the exciting world of chemistry for today! Tomorrow we have a lab so meet me on the 2nd floor in room five! And remember to bring your brains, you're gonna need 'em! Got it?"

"Yes, Gai-Sensei!" the class responded with mock enthusiasm to their overly-hyped Chemistry teacher. When the man finally left the room everyone seemed to release a relived sigh, it was lunch time! They'd endured History, Calculus and Chemistry and the class had earned their break. Hinata put away the Chemistry book she had shared with Ino.

"Thanks again for sharing, Hinata, I'll try and get my books after school."

"It was no problem, especially since he thought I was explaining everything you missed, he didn't bother asking me any questions!" Hinata gave a small, warm smile before she was patted roughly on the back.

"Hey, Hina, wanna go on the roof to have lunch?"

Ino looked behind Hinata and found a pink haired girl. Her cross tie, like Ino's, was undone as well as the first couple buttons on her shirt, revealing a bit too much for school. Her skirt was obviously rolled up and she wore black thigh highs with white stripes at the top. She noticed Ino and waved at her.

"Hey, new girl, you can come too. I'm Sakura." Ino gave her a, slightly fake, smile.

"Nice to meet you. How long's lunch?"

"An hour and fifteen so get your lunch and let's get to the roof!"

"Whoa, that long? And you don't have to have lunch in class?"

"Duh, now come on, let's go! Everyone's waiting!"

The girls quickly grabbed their lunches and Ino found herself being pulled by Hinata, who was being pulled by Sakura, up three flights of stairs to the roof. The sun was shining bright and they settled behind a large generator of some sort. The shaded area was already occupied by a small group of teens. Ino sat leaning on the wall shielding the generator and was introduced to everyone by the, annoyingly perky, pink-haired girl.

"Hey, you guys, this is Ino, she's a new girl. Ino, this is Ten-Ten, Kiba, Shino, Chouji, Shikamaru, Sai, Lee and Neji-"

"That's Hyuuga-Senpai to you, child." Sakura rolled her eyes at the senior.

"What ever. Hey, Ino, I just have to ask, are you a natural blonde?" Ino paused in mid-bite of her sandwich and slightly raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yea, I am…"

"Seriously? That's can't be natural, it's so... blonde!"

"Shut up, Sakura, you claim yours in natural, ya pink-haired freak!"

"Shut up, Kiba!"

"Oh my God…"

"What, Ten-Ten?"

"Look who's coming up the stairs!"

All heads turned to the roof's entrance to find a very small group of guys making their way through the door. They crossed the roof and sat on the other side, shaded by the wall of another generator.

"Oh my God…" Sakura sighed, "I didn't know they'd be out here! If I did I'd be coming up every day."

"That makes two of us," Ten-Ten agreed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ino asked, finally tired of being left COMPLETELY out of the loop. Hinata scooted closer to Ino, deciding to explain why suddenly everyone's attention has shifted to the new five boys on the roof.

"You see, those five are the most popular guys in the school, period. They're all seniors. The one with the weird tattoos on his neck and spiky hair's name is Kisame Hoshigaki, champion swimmer. No one's been able to beat him since elementary school. The blonde with the bang is Diedara, he's an artist. He spray paints a wall of every school he goes to. He's done two walls here. And, you see how he keeps his hands together like that? And how he's always moving his fingers? He's molding clay, I think it's some sort of therapy for him. The one with the red hair is Sasori, he's supposed to be a genius, and he probably is. The white-haired guy is Hidan, and he's… Well, people call him… a "slut". He has sex with any and every girl he can get… He got kicked out of his last school for sleeping with the principal's daughter…-"

"But what's so bad about that?" Ino interrupted Hinata, "that's not a reason to kick him out of school…"

"They did it in his office…" Hinata blushed slightly and Ino's eyes grew wide.

"Oh, well… wow."

"Yup," Hinata said, then continued her introduction of the boys.

"The last one, with the long black hair, is Itachi Uchiha. He's the leader, practically every girl in the school wants him but he's never had a girlfriend… Well, an actual girlfriend. They say he has flings and stuff but he never claims a girlfriend. He doesn't seem to care…"

"You guys are talking about Itachi!" Sakura entered the conversation. Ino and Hinata both nodded.

Sakura stood up abruptly, "I'm gonna go talk to him! He and I are friends you know," she winked at the two girls and strolled over to where Itachi and his gang were sitting.

"Well, this should be entertaining," Shino muttered and Ino couldn't help but stare at him for a moment.

_I didn't know he could speak…_ The boy wore dark, round sunglasses over his eyes and a jacket with both it and his shirt collar pulled up. Whether or not he was hot in that jacket Ino could not tell for the life of her.

Everyone watched as Sakura stood in front of the group of boys and put her hands on her hips.

"Hey, Itachi, how's it going?" Said boy was wearing his school uniform with the sleeves rolled up and his shirt un-tucked, the top few buttons undone to show off some of his tanned, muscular chest.

"It's Uchiha-Senpai to you, Kohai," Sasori spat at her, already annoyed by the pink-haired girl's presence. His shirt was also un-tucked, only the top button of his shirt undone.

"Wow, Sasori, aren't we-"

"Sasori-SENPAI, you twit."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "-sour today."

Sasori rolled his eyes as well and Itachi gave Sakura a slight wave, looking at his cell phone instead of her face.

"Yo."

"So, what do you have planned for-"

"Umm, Sakura?" The pink-haired girl turned around to see Ino scratching the back of her head.

"What?"

"Uhh, well, I thought you should know… Everyone's splitting your lunch!"

"What?"

Sakura looked past Ino to see everyone, except Hinata, picking happily through her red, flower covered bento box.

"Hey! You bitches get away from my lunch!" Sakura pushed past Ino completely and sprinted over to fight off the hungry teenagers from her meal. Ino giggled to herself.

"Good thing I already got what I wanted!" She turned around to find the group of boys looking at her. Itachi leaned forward a bit, pulling his spread knees up and resting his elbows on his them, relaxing his arms.

"You're new." It was more of a statement then a question. Ino nodded.

"Hmph," Itachi leaned back, the sound was more of a confirmation of her confirmation. Hidan snickered as Itachi laid his head back against the wall, closing his eyes and releasing a deep sigh. As Itachi exposed more of his neck Ino noticed he was wearing a necklace. It was thin and silver with a silver pendant that looked like a swirled cross, she'd never seen anything like it. Ino leaned down and eased her fingers under the pendant and slid her thumb over it.

"Wow, this is really pretty…" It glimmered as a ray of sunlight slid out from behind a cloud and hit it just right. Ino smiled, "where'd you… get… this…?"

Ino noticed all the boys staring intently at her, as well as Itachi, whose face shown a bit of amusement, but not the normal kind. The type of arrogant amusement that some guys experienced, like they were better than everyone else. Itachi showed a hint of a smirk and was suddenly a breath away from her face.

"That's a good question. Look it up."

After those words that tiny bit of emotion, that small, cocky smirk was gone and his face was as emotionless and aloof as ever. He laid his head back on the wall and closed his eyes.

Ino's face had turned completely red before she could even feel the blood rushing to her cheeks. She stood up straight and walked, briskly, back to her group as Hidan, Diedara and Kisame began laughing for, seemingly, no reason. Only they, and Sasori, knew that the only thing that gave Itachi any emotion at all was unnerving girls like Ino.

Ino returned to her seat next to Hinata and was asked several questions like "what did he say?" "What did he do?" and, of course, "Why are you blushing so much?"

Ino couldn't bring herself to give any of them a straight answer. The image of Itachi's face just a breath away from hers was burned into the backs of her eyes as well as her mind. Every time she closed her eyes it was all she saw and she couldn't help but hope that he would have leaned in for a kiss…

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"Good morning, my young minds! Is everyone ready to explore the exciting world of Chemistry?"

And, once again, "yeas" and "woots" filled with mock enthusiasm echoed through the room, just as they did every Chemistry class.

"Good! Well, first off everyone make two single file lines, one for lab coats and another for goggles! Then I'll assign lab partners and tell you what incredible side of Chemistry we will be exploring today!"

Everyone did as they were told, getting into single file lines and getting their coats and goggles. When everyone was equipped and ready Gai-Sensei did exactly what he said he would, he paired everyone up. Of course, being a teacher, Gai-Sensei found extreme delight in pairing up people who don't talk to each other, people who didn't know the other existed and polar opposites. And, of course, he used the excuse "in life you'll be paired with people you don't know or like and will be expected to do your job just as well!" No matter how different a student was from their partner both also would take extreme delight in telling the other what a load of bull shit that was. Ino did the same thing with her partner, Gaara.

She'd never seen Gaara in the class before so being paired with him was a surprise on both ends. She didn't mind though, Gaara was beyond sexy. He had his short red hair in the messy but hot style and a tattoo on the left side of his forehead; a character that meant Love, or a love for death. With the vibrant hair and pale, blue eyes he was a complete knock out.

"So, my children, time to start our experiment for the day! You'll be testing the chemical reactions of 3 different metals in water! The notepads at your station are for recording your observations. Use your tweezers and drop first into the water Group 1, Lithium. When that observation is finished then do Group 1, Sodium and Group 1, Calcium! Do NOT touch ANY of the other elements at your station. Now, begin!"

"Want to do the first one?" Gaara asked and Ino nodded, taking the small sample of metal and dropping it into the beaker of water.

"Wow, it's steaming and sizzling…"

Gaara quickly picked up the notepad, drew a graph and wrote the information down. Soon they dropped the second sample in and then the third. The most they saw was steam and bubbles throughout their observations and only a couple minutes later they were standing at their station bored out of their minds. Ino found herself staring at the red head; even in the lab gear he was still hot. Gaara soon caught her staring and she blushed.

"Enjoying the view?" Gaara asked, standing up straight to stretch his back. Ino smiled slightly.

"Yes I am, doesn't mean you can get cocky about it."

Gaara chuckled. He leaned over and placed his elbows on the counter, massaging his temples.

"Why does everyone take so long to do this? I'm dying here…"

Ino glanced at the several other samples at the table and quickly got an idea.

"Let's try something else."

Gaara looked at her and raised a crimson eyebrow, but, nonetheless, stood up straight once more. Ino smirked and looked closer at the several elements on the lab table, "let's try stuff from group 2." Gaara nodded and selected Barium. They dropped the metal in and were quickly disappointed when absolutely nothing happen. Then Gaara randomly selected another sample, Radium from Group 2. They waited for a reaction and were, once again, disappointed. Ino looked at the elements.

"Have you just been choosing from group 2?" Ino asked. Gaara nodded and she smiled.

"Let's try something else then!" She smirked and picked up an element from group 1, Potassium. The pair looked at the metal and dropped it in the tank. Sparks immediately began flying and they felt something tug on the backs of their lab coats. They were quickly pulled to the ground as the small piece of metal violently erupted into an array of sparks and smoke. The teens, now on the ground, began laughing.

"Was that Potassium?" Gai-Sensei asked, hauling the two off the ground, again by the backs of their lab coats.

"Yea," Ino answered between small giggles. Gai-Sensei sighed heavily.

"Thank Heaven! I thought you guys used Cesium!"

The two's laughing quickly calmed and they looked at their teacher, "what would have happened if we used that?" Ino asked.

Suddenly the sound of an explosion filled the room as well as a thud on the floor. Everyone looked to the back of the room to see smoke, a busted beaker, and a boy with bright blue eyes and spiky blonde hair slowly rise from the floor. He grinned nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"Oops."

"I'm guessing THAT would've happened."

"NARUTO!"

_**TBC**_

**Author's Notes:**** You know, this was supposed to be my first ever one-shot and it's being uploaded long after 2 previous one-shots, funny, huh? I've been working on this for a long time and looove to procrastinate! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and stay tuned for the second one! Read and Review for me! Plus, for once the Lemon will not come immediately so be patient, you'll get some! =P**

**SEE YOU NEXT TIME!**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Thin Line**

Chapter 2:

Everyone rushed back to class to get their lunch after enjoying Naruto getting his firm scolding from the overly-hyped Gai-Sensei about how "students must listen to their teachers" and they must be "as careful as possible at all times because you could have just as easily blown your FREAKIN' HEAD OFF."

Okay, maybe he didn't say EXACTLY that, but who was listening anyway?

Ino had picked the purple bento her mother packed for her out of her bag when Sakura eagerly bounced over to her with her own pink bento in one hand and Hinata's wrist in the other.

"Comin' to the roof again, new girl? It'll be fun!" Sakura wrapped her arm around Ino's shoulder and dragged her out the door before the blonde could answer.

After being forced to run up three flights of stairs by the pink haired girl Ino sat with the same group from yesterday with her back to the wall. Hinata sat across from her, legs crossed, and sighed.

"Is she always like that?" Ino asked. Hinata looked up.

"Who?"

"Sakura."

Hinata looked at Sakura and sighed again. "Yes, for some reason, she is." The two started eating when Ino looked up behind Hinata to see a familiar looking, blue-eyed blonde with a finger over his lips signaling her to keep quiet. After taking a few more steps he leaped onto Hinata's back, who squealed and fell forward, only to be caught by strong, slightly tanned arms. Ino laughed lightly at her friend.

"Naruto! What'd you do that for?"

"Haha, for fun!"

"Wait…" Ino whispered to herself. Naruto kissed Hinata's neck and whispered something in her ear before kissing her cheek. Hinata blushed lightly and chuckled.

"I missed you too, Naruto." He sat next to her, turned her face to his and kissed her gently, evoking "ooo"s and "awww"s from the group. When they pulled apart Naruto smiled, revealing slightly sharp canines.

"Wait… You're the kid who blew up the beaker in Chemistry class!"

Naruto looked at Ino and his smile widened. He nodded his head. "You gave me the idea."

"But I just made sparks, I didn't blow it up!"

"I didn't know that'd happen!" Naruto began laughing and Hinata giggled, kissing his forehead. The boy kissed her again on the lips and Ino smiled. _Now that's actually cute._

The sound of the door opening caused everyone's attention to shift to the roof's entrance. Out came the five boys from yesterday; Kisame, Diedara, Hidan, Sasori and Itachi.

"They're here!" Sakura gasped and she and Ten-Ten sighed.

"Itachi is so hot!"

"Yea… What is that?" Sakura asked, staring at Itachi's hands.

The Senior was fiddling with something. When the gang neared their usual spot Itachi looked across the roof. Ten-Ten was the first to realize that Itachi's eyes were on them.

"Oh my God, he's looking at me-!"

"Are you kidding? He's looking at me!" Sakura nearly yelled and began fixing her hair, her eyebrows, and spreading the top of her shirt further open revealing, as usual, too much for school.

She waved to him and he sat down in his usual spot on the wall. He waved his hand towards the group, a gesture telling one of them to come over.

"That's my queue!" Sakura stood up, brushed her skirt off and strutted her way over to where Itachi sat.

"Lucky bitch…" Ten-Ten mumbled.

"Maybe not," Kiba snickered. Everyone looked up to see a, slightly blushing and very angry, Sakura stomping back to her seat. She crossed her arms and stood over Ino.

"He wants to talk to **you**," she grumbled. Ino's eyes widened.

"Are you serious?"

"What do you think? Just go!" Sakura sat down and massaged her temple rapidly as Ino stood up and slowly made her way over to wear Itachi sat.

"Umm… you wanted me?"

"I know I do-"

"Shut up Hidan," Sasori interrupted, rolling his eyes. Hidan raised his eyebrows, eyeing Ino. Only a moment later Ino found herself on her hands and knees. Itachi had swiftly lifted his foot up behind her knee and pulled, causing her to land between his legs. Ino looked up and blushed; she was almost as close to Itachi as she was the day before. He lifted his hand to her face and, dangling from his fingers, was a black choker with a golden, oval locket.

"This yours?" It slowly dawned on the girl and her face lit up.

"My locket! Where'd you find it?" she lunged for it, but the necklace was quickly jerked from her grip and she landed on Itachi, face in the juncture of his neck and shoulder. Her body slumped to the side and her blush deepened further. She quickly brought herself up and was face-to-face with Itachi, once again only a breath away.

"You're in the picture in the locket, aren't you? Hard not to recognize a face like that."

Ino froze. She didn't know what to do, the most she could manage was a weak "oh".

"Want it back then?"

Ino couldn't breathe. He smelled good, spicy. It was… intoxicating. She didn't even notice herself moving forward oh-so slowly. Her eyes were nearly closed and their lips brushed before she realized exactly what she was doing and jumping, falling back on her ass. Diedara and Kisame instantly broke out laughing, even Itachi chuckled slightly. Ino's face seemed to be the color of a tomato.

"I'm sorry… about that..."

"Still want this?" Itachi held up the necklace, this time right in front of his face. Ino nodded her head.

"Then come get it."

Ino leaned in again and reached for it, but this time didn't fall forward when Itachi, once again, jerked the choker out of her reach and over his head.

"Keep trying."

It really got to her, how emotionless he was. They'd gotten so close and his expression never changed. The more the blonde thought about it the angrier she got, and the more she liked him. This time she was going to get it. She lunged forward, hands landing on either side of Itachi's hips and their faces inches apart. Ino slowly brought her hand up over Itachi's head, leaning in just a bit more, and snatched the choker from his fingers. Itachi smirked and she smiled.

"Thanks for finding it."

Itachi said nothing. Just as she leaned back Itachi quickly moved forward and gently pressed their lips together. The faded blush on Ino's cheeks quickly returned and her eyes seemed to pop out of their sockets. The kiss lasted only a second before Itachi leaned his head back against the wall, smirking.

Ino quickly stood up and left before Kisame and Diedara started laughing again. She nearly sprinted back to her seat and slid down the wall, resting her head back and closing her eyes. Everyone watched her and Sakura, of course, was the first to speak.

"What the hell was all of that?"

Ino looked at the girl and sighed, "All of what?"

"All that stuff over there… You got so close to him, what were you doing?"

"Oh…" Ino's blushed remained for a minute while she thought of a way to explain what happened. She eventually managed to feed them a good lie, "he had my choker… I was showing him the picture inside… It's small so I got closer to him, that's all."

"What ever…" Sakura rolled her eyes.

"So, think he's cute?" Kiba asked, watching Ino.

"Well… He's all right… His friend's kinda weird…"

"They're all pretty weird, if you ask me! But everyone is their own person!"

It was the first time she'd ever heard Lee talk. He reminded her of her Chemistry teacher…

"Well, I'm talking about Hidan… I think he hit on me…"

"You mean the white haired guy?" Naruto asked. He was sitting facing to the side with one knee up behind Hinata and the other splayed out in front of her, her own legs resting over his. The blonde boy's arms were wrapped around her waist, his head on her shoulder

"Yea… his name is Hidan, isn't it?"

"Yea… He's annoying, with a great left hook."

"You fought him?"

"Hell yea."

"Why?"

Naruto and Hinata shifted uncomfortable. "Well, that fucktard decided-"

"He liked me…" Hinata interrupted, knowing already how much he hated telling the story. "And, apparently, Hidan was used to getting what he wants… And he was hitting on me for a while and didn't understand that I didn't like him, and he cornered me one day after school and tried to…"

"And I caught him and beat his ass!" Naruto stated, trying to sound playful but the anger was still clear. He swiped his thumb on the bottom of his nose and sighed heavily.

"I got suspended for it too, but so did he… Woulda got expelled if it weren't for Hinata…" he rested his head on her chest and pulled her closer, smiling now, "they said since I was defending her they were letting me off easy."

"Wow… So… can he fight?"

"Yea, but I was more pissed then him." Naruto chuckled and Ino laughed. She might have just made a new friend…

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"New girl!" Ino turned around to see Neji Hyuuga walking up behind her. It was seven o'clock and Ino was just leaving school, she had to pick up her books, since she didn't get to do it yesterday, as well as turn in her forms for cram school. Then one of the teachers decided to give her a formal school tour, then, of course, they talked about college and several things that she didn't feel like talking about to a teacher.

In a few seconds Neji caught up to her, "Yamanaka, isn't it?"

"Yea… Hyuuga… Senpai?"

"Correct."

"Ah… So, you live in this direction?" Ino asked, mostly for the sake of not having an awkward silence. Neji shook his head.

"No, my young cousin goes to the junior cram school up the road, her father prefers her not to take the car home alone, so I always pick her up. How about you?"

"Oh, I live a few blocks up so I just walk."

"I'll walk you then, it's not right to let a young woman escort herself home at night."

"Oh… thanks, Hyuuga-Senpai."

The rest of the walk was in silence with the occasional "do you like the school?" and "how old are you?" But, for some reason, the silence wasn't very awkward, just… silence. Eventually they came upon Ino's walkway and they came to a stop.

"Thanks, Hyuuga-Senpai… For walking me home."

"Let's keep going, I'm your escort, therefore I won't be at ease until I see you safely into your house."

Ino nodded and they walked together down her walkway to her front door.

"Thanks again..."

"It was no problem, I'm not any further from my-"

The door opened and out stepped Ino's father, still in his work clothes. "Hello, and who might you be?"

Ino shifted a bit, slightly nervous for her father to catch her with a guy, even though he was just an acquaintance.

"Dad, this is a guy from school-"

"I've realized. Name?"

"Neji Hyuuga, Sir, I'm a senior."

"I see… Thanks for walking Ino home."

"No problem, Mr. Yamanaka."

"Umm... Yea, I'll see you tomorrow, Hyuuga-Senpai."

"All right, good bye."

Neji left and Ino stepped inside the house to face her father, who closed the door and faced his teenage daughter.

"Two days and you already have a boyfriend?"

"He's just a friend!"

"Of course," he replied sarcastically.

"Who was that? I heard another voice."

"No one mom!"

"It was a boy!"

"Shut up Dad!"

"A boy? Oh, you'll have to tell me all about him! Come on, dinner's ready!"

"Oh great…"

Ino loved her parents but they went crazy over guys. Her father went shotgun crazy while her mother went "that's so cute!" crazy. It was time for the suffocation to begin! Well, at least she could keep that incident with Itachi to herself…

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

The next day Ino, for once was excited to go to school. She was excited to start class and she was excited for Sakura to invite her to the roof for lunch and drag her up before she could reply.

Ino slowly ate her lunch as everyone chatted about some sort of competition they'd all watched on TV the night before. Her attention drifted from them to the door and back until it finally opened. She stared at the group of boys coming through the entrance and she could feel the butterflies fluttering in her stomach. She counted the boys off in her head.

_Kisame, Sasori, Hidan, Deidara… Wait… Where is he?_

"He's not here…"

"Huh?"

"… Wait… Did I just say that out loud?" Hinata nodded to her blonde friend.

Everyone looked over to the other side of the roof and immediately realized it as well.

"Itachi's not here today?" Sakura asked.

"Nope," Ten-Ten replied, "didn't see him come in the school and his ride isn't parked outside either. Wonder if he's skipping…"

"Or maybe he's hanging out with his girlfriend at her University." Kiba commented.

"What? No! He's not interested in any girls! He's too cool for that!" Sakura yelled at the smirking brunette.

"So you're saying he's gay then."

"What?"

"Well, you said he's not in to any girls."

"Shut the fuck up, Kiba! What do you know?"

"A hell of a lot more then you, Pinkie."

"Ugh!"

If there was ANYTHING that Kiba loved it was getting a rise out of the perky, pink-haired girl. There was just something so entertaining about pissing her off, and he wasn't the only one that thought so. Everyone continued to laugh as Kiba continued to make his comments and evoke Sakura's terribly violent temper even further. And, all though thoroughly distracted, Ino still missed Itachi's presence…

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Ahh, Monday! Another full week of school. Ino lost all of the enthusiasm she'd had for going to school. Well, she lost the small bit that she ever had. It's not that school was bad. Her teachers were fun, she enjoyed all of her classes, even Chemistry (which was only fun because every once in a while someone would blow something up). And her lunch break with her newly found group of friends was going great. She was incorporated into more and more group conversations by the end of the week, and today she'd prepared herself to do it all over again. However, the part she didn't enjoy was not seeing Itachi. He'd missed the rest of the week last week, not shown even a hint of his presence, and Ino couldn't help but be disappointed. Who knows what happened to him? But she, regardless, went about her day as if she didn't care about whether or not he was there. She talked to her friends, played basket ball in Gym class, and became friends with Gaara, her, now, absolute favorite red-head. She'd even started cram school, sadly one clear across town. The cost of her private school brought the budget for her cram school down incredibly low. But, traveling one sub way and a few blocks wasn't so bad. Ino went about her business as if Itachi had never existed.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Another week and more had gone by and by Friday nothing had changed. She hung out with her friends, blew things up in her classes, and Itachi remained absent from school. It had been over two weeks and Ino was still thinking of him.

She walked home from school and went straight to her room, changing into a black t-shirt and a pair of dark blue skinny jeans. She picked up her smaller back pack and headed for the door, quickly slipping her small feet into her black air force shoes.

"Going to cram school now Mom!"

"All right! Make sure you come straight home! And it looks like rain, do you have your umbrella!"

"Yea, Mom!" She didn't. But she was sure she'd escape the rain. Besides, she didn't feel like going to her room to find the damned thing.

She walked out her house and looked up at the sky; the clouds were dark and swirling. She ran up her walkway and down the next few blocks to the subway. She quickly bought her ticket and immediately got onto the subway leaving for the area her cram school was in. After the ten minute subway ride she ran the next couple blocks to her cram school, making it to her class just in time, as usual. And said class went on just as smoothly, and boring, as usual. Unluckily for her, by the time it was over it was dark and had started raining. On her trek back to the Subway Station she decided to use a short cut she'd discovered, she usually avoided it though… It always looked much too shady. But today she didn't have time and the rain was picking up. She sprinted threw the short cut only to be stopped suddenly while only a few steps in. She stumbled back a bit and looked up to find three guys, all a good few inches taller then her and wearing obviously over-sized black hoodies. At that moment all Ino cold think about was how much she missed her hoodie, until one of them grabbed her arm.

"Where ya goin', sweet heart?" said the one that had taken hold of her. Ino jerked away and smoothed her wet bangs from over her forehead onto the top of her hair, which was currently in one large braid.

"Get out of my way, I need to get home." She attempted to walk past them again but, this time, was stopped by the second man.

"What's your rush? Hang out with us for a bit, cutie." Ino rolled her eyes.

"Please, I've got more important ways to waste my time." This time when she tried to brush by them one grabbed her waist and the other grabbed her arms. The third held her chin and turned her face towards his.

"Well, I've got somethin' **very** fun in mind for us, babe." The man chuckled and Ino kicked as hard as she could, striking the man holding her arms in a place where she knew it would hurt, but only heard the man chuckle.

"Please, you actually think that'll work?" The man chuckled again.

Ino struggled and managed to get her right arm free. She used it to punch the man in front of her in the face, feeling a nice crunch under her fist as she did.

"My fuckin' nose!"

"Bulls-eye!"

The other man grabbed her free arm and jerked her face firmly toward his again.

"You're gonna pay for that bi-!" Ino heard a crunch just before the man stopped talking. She felt something splatter on her cheek before the grip on her face loosened and disappeared completely. A figure stepped in front of her vision and hit the man holding her arms, who yelped painfully and fell to the ground. The man holding her waist attempted to run, but then there was a painful crunch and he fell to the ground, yelling several obscene words which made Ino chuckle. There were a few more crunches and yelps of pain before a light was suddenly cast onto her face.

"You okay?" she heard a voice ask. Ino paused for a moment.

"Wait… Does the light mean I'm in heaven? They stabbed me or somethin' and in my heaven I got saved from them and in a while you're gonna tell me I'm dead, right?" She heard a slight chuckle.

"Well, if that's the case then…" she felt around with her foot for the guy who was holding her waist. When she found him she stomped on his ribs, which caused him to twitch violently as Ino heard another small crunching sound. She smirked. "Serves your ass right, pressing your thing on me.

The voice chuckled slightly again before she was dragged by her wrist out of the dark alley. The chuckle sounded familiar to Ino… And when they reached back to the alley's entrance she realized why.

"Itachi?" He smoothed his long, black bangs out of his eyes.

"What do you think?"

Ino stood there for a moment staring at him. She hadn't seen him for two weeks and all of a sudden he was saving her? Wait a minute…

"Are you stalking me?"

Itachi shifted his attention from the pitch black sky to Ino.

"What?"

"I mean… You haven't been to school in over two weeks… And now you're coming to save me? It's not like I ever told you where I am at this time of day or somethin'…"

"Please. I live down the street, needed to get some gas and stopped for a drink. You can hear everything that goes on in this alley from the 7-11." He smoothed his bangs back once more and looked back up at the sky for a moment more before speaking again.

"Need a ride back home?" he asked.

Ino stared at him for a long moment before nodding. Itachi gestured his head to the right and walked in the direction. Ino followed, noticing the way his clothes clung to him when they were wet. Outside of school Itachi wore a black hoodie, black jeans and black combat boots, no wonder it was so hard to see him in the dark alley. They made their way over to the 7-11 parking lot where, luckily, there was an escape from the rain. They walked over to a sleek, black motor cycle with a black helmet resting on the front. Itachi picked up the helmet and handed it to Ino, who, after staring at it for a bit, questioned to put in on her head. _So Itachi was the guy on the motorcycle?_

"Put it on."

Ino quickly did as she was told, sliding the helmet over her head. Itachi walked up to her and leaned in close causing Ino to blush behind the opaque helmet. He buckled the lower part of the helmet below Ino's chin.

"Now it won't slide off."

Itachi slid his leg over the bike and relaxed himself on top of it. He scooted forward a bit then patted the empty space behind him.

"Get on." And, once again, Ino did as she was told, sliding her leg over the bike, just as Itachi did, and resting herself on the top of it.

"Hey, don't you need a helmet?" She asked. He DID need the protection, being the driver and all.

Itachi pulled a pair of sleek, goggle-like sunglasses from his pocket that reminded Ino of Ghost in the Shell. He put them on and they, somehow, completed his dark, sexy, mysterious look. _Wow_, she thought, _you'd think they'd look dorky on someone, but damn!_

"Hold on to me," he said and Ino, delightedly, followed his quick instruction. As she slid her arms around his torso she felt him wince slightly beneath her.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Eh? Put your feet up, we're going now."

Ino did and they were off.

_**TBC**_

**Author's Notes: Ahh, the second chapter! To tell you the truth, I already have allot of this story written. I need to do some basic editing before I upload anymore, and there's allot to do (and I'm a terrible editor). I still have plenty left to write, but the chapters already written will come as fast as I can edit them! Read and review and thank you!**


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter is here waaay earlier then previously intended! But, there is bad news! I lost some of my edited ****pages so I get to read back**

**through and edit allot, but since this part is all finished editing I decided to upload it!**

**Sorry for any mistakes I missed! I would get someone else to edit, but I like making corrections for whole sentences and ****adding**

**stuff so yea XD Enjoy! And Read and Review! Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapters 1&2! =D**

**The Thin Line**

Chapter 3:

Ino had never been on a motorcycle before, let alone with Itachi, so it was like a dream. It took them about 15 minutes to get to her house, of course giving Itachi directions along the way. She enjoyed the time, the rain beating against them, and how she could feel how warm and hard his body was through his wet clothes. He stopped a little ways away from the front of the walkway so her parents couldn't see them if they looked out. Itachi parked the bike and got off, as well as Ino. They were illuminated by the street light while Ino unbuckled and pulled off the helmet, she handed it to Itachi.

"Thanks…"

"It happens," he placed the helmet on his bike and took of the sunglasses, sliding them into his pocket. He leaned back on his bike as Ino leaned back on the gate surrounding the yard to her home.

"Well, I guess I'll be going now…" Before Ino could fully turn around she was called back.

"Hey."

Ino leaned back on the fence, "yea?"

Itachi got up off the bike and walk over to her. He stood a foot in front of her and pulled something from his pants pocket; a black choker with a gold, oval locket.

"What the-" Ino quickly felt her neck, "my locket?"

"Found it at the alley entrance."

"That's how you knew I was in there."

Silence. Itachi walked closer until they were mere inches apart and held it in front of her face; he was only a few inches taller than her.

"Want it back?" he asked. Ino looked up at him and slowly brought her hand up. Unlike last time he didn't suddenly jerk the locket from her reach. She slowly dragged it from between his fingers.

"Thanks again… I'd really better get home."

She didn't get to leave. Itachi grabbed her wrist and pulled her back stepping a bit closer to her. He released her wrist and eased his hand up to her face. Blood slowly began to rush to Ino's cheeks and butterflies fluttered in her stomach, she was ready for a second kiss, a kiss she'd waited two weeks for. Itachi leaned his face down to hers and the blonde's eyes fluttered closed. Itachi's hand finally made contact with her cheek and his thumb wiped right below her eye. Then there was nothing. Ino soon opened her eyes to find Itachi was holding his hand up, letting the rain soak the thumb he'd passed over her cheek.

"Huh?" Ino made a confused face. Itachi looked down at her.

"There was blood smeared on your cheek from that guy I punched. Don't think your parents would like that."

Itachi attempted to turn and walk away when he felt a sharp tug on his sweatshirt pull him back. Ino leaned on the tips of her toes and pressed her lips to his. _I've been waiting for this for too long… He's not leaving before I get it._

The blonde wrapped her arms around Itachi's neck and pulled him closer and Itachi slipped his arms around her thin waist. They'd both forgotten about the rain, its presence was completely drowned out by the feel of their bodies pressed against each other; the heat still felt through sopping wet clothes. By the time Ino was flat on her feet again she was in a daze, the taste of Itachi's lips still fresh on hers. Itachi's hands started to slide down. Ino sighed.

"Any chance I can see you tomorrow?" she asked, resting her head against Itachi's chest. He looked up at the sky, just as pitch black as before.

"Can you be out by noon?"

She hummed into his chest, signaling her confirmation. "All right then." Before he could pull away from Ino she caught his chin and pulled him down for another kiss. The feel of his lips against hers made Ino's heart jump in a way she, now, couldn't live without. When they parted Itachi smirked.

"Enjoying yourself?"

"More then you know."

Itachi chuckled a bit, then the smirk was gone. He and Ino slowly parted and he leaned back on his bike.

"So I'll see you tomorrow? At noon?"

"Be out here and you will."

Ino smiled and slowly stumbled back into her walkway. She eventually turned around and began walking towards her house, but paused for a moment as she heard the sound of the motorcycle driving off. She bit her lip and continued walking towards her house, her heart still racing. _It's like being high_, she thought, _but more… addictive._

She opened the door to her house and slid off her, soaked, air force. Her mother immediately came to the entrance to find her daughter dripping wet.

"I'm happy you made it home Ino, but why are you so wet? Didn't you say you brought your umbrella?"

"I liiiied."

"Why?"

"I didn't feel like looking for it."

"Oh, Dear God, Ino, you're just like your father! Stay right there I'm going to get you a towel and start running you a nice hot bath!"

And, with that, her mother scurried off, set out to do just what she said. Her father then strolled over to the house entrance.

"Had a hard time gettin' home, girly?"

"Had a hard time BEIN' home, Blondie?"

There was a pause before the two started laughing.

"So, Ino, how was your day?"

"Pretty good. A friend gave me a ride home from cram school."

"Then why are you so wet?"

"Motorcycle."

"Boy?"

"Maybe."

"Ino."

"He's just a friend!" Ino chuckled

"Yea, sure."

Ino's mother came back and threw her a small towel, "wring out the bottom of your pants and your shirt there, I'll mop it up in a bit. Use that to dry you off some so you won't soak the floor on the way to your bath, okay?"

"Okay, Mom… Thanks," Ino smiled warmly, she really did love her mother.

"What am I supposed to do, let your freeze? I'll have your dinner ready for you by the time you get out." And, again, Ino's mother scurried away.

"You know, old man, you picked a great woman to give birth to me."

"You know, little girl… You're right. FOR ONCE."

"What's THAT supposed to mean?"

Her father walked away without answering, but soon came back and said "if those cram school books are in your back pack you might wanna let 'em dry out," then he waltzed back to the living room.

Ino sighed heavily and took off her back pack, setting it to lean on one of the walls of the entrance. Then she attempted to dry herself off a bit before heading to her bath. _I love these people, but I wonder if I'm falling in love with…?_

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Ino pulled on her white t-shirt and buttoned a black vest over it. Then she slid on her denim mini skirt, only to realize _we're gonna be on his bike… _So she, instead, pulled on her black, denim skinny jeans and herblack converse. Ino checked her clock, it was noon. She hurriedly fixed her choker on her neck and ran out the door.

"Going out Mom, be back later!"

"Be safe, sweet heart!"

Ino ran out the door and up the walk way. Upon exiting she found Itachi sitting on his motorcycle exactly where he'd parked it the night before.

"Wow, I see you're punctual," she said.

"If I wasn't here at noon I'd feel like a liar," Itachi replied and tossed her the sleek, black helmet, "now get on."

Ino slid the helmet onto her head, buckled it and sat on the bike behind Itachi, who pulled the same goggle like glasses from last night out of his pocket and put them on. Ino hugged Itachi's torso and took note on how he winced slightly like he did last night.

"Where are we going?"

"My place."

And they were off!

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"You have your own apartment?"

"My parents were suffocating me."

Ino was currently standing outside the door to Itachi's place.

"My parents are kind of suffocating too, but I didn't move out."

"Mine were different."

He unlocked the door and they stepped inside. It was a lot bigger then Ino had imagined. A full size, and very nice looking, kitchen, dark plush carpet, black leather chairs in the living room along with a 42 inch flat screen TV.

"Dear God, how'd you afford all of this?"

"You tend to save up a lot of the money you make when your parents are rich as hell. This is what I spent mine on."

Suddenly there were small yipping noises coming from the other room. _Does he have a dog?_

A small puppy ran from one of the rooms and straight to Itachi's feet. It barked happily and wagged its tail, happy to see his master was home.

"Hey Jiro," Itachi said, crouching down and scratching the dog's ear. He yipped happily and sat down, leaning into his owners touch.

"Aww, puppy!" Ino crouched down next to Itachi, "what is he?"

"German Sheppard, only one month old... they grow really fast."

"He's so cute! Can I pet him?"

"If he doesn't bite you."

Ino slowly reached her hand out towards the puppy's head. He sniffed at her fingers for a moment then licked them. Ino pet his head lovingly and he nuzzled her hand.

"So you like her too, huh Jiro?"

Ino heard the comment and looked at Itachi for a moment, who was still looking at Jiro. That was the first time he'd said anything like that…

Itachi picked Jiro up, "we're gonna have to stay here. It's raining again and I shouldn't get my bike too wet anymore, it's bad for her."

"It's okay.

Jiro yipped and barked in Ino's direction so Itachi walked over to her and handed her the dog.

"He doesn't see girls unless I take him outside, so he'd rather be with you right now."

Ino smiled and took the dog into her arms, whom nuzzled her chest and closed his eyes.

"Aww, he's really cute."

"Of course, he's MY dog." Ino chuckled and followed Itachi over to the couch and sat down. "Want to watch a movie?"

Ino shrugged her shoulders, "as long as it's nothing too weird."

Itachi smirked, "Child's Play 5 it is."

"What's that?"

"It's… a comedy. American."

"Oh, sound's fun! Why's it called Child's Play?"

"Dunno. It's also called Seed of Chucky."

"Who's Chucky?"

"You'll see."

And she did. When the hour and twenty minute movie was done Ino was holding on to Jiro for dear life, hoping the puppy's cuteness would cancel out how disturbing the movie was.

"If this is the Americans' idea of comedy… I'm never going there," Ino's eyes were wide and her knees to her chest with the puppy lying comfortably on them. "Why… did… we watch that? Why did we watch that?"

Itachi chuckled as the blonde continued to completely freak out until he did the only thing he could to shut her up. He rested his knee next to her and leaned on it. He caught her chin in his hand and pulled her face towards his, pressing their lips together. Ino calmed down, just like he knew she would, and Itachi deepened the kiss.

Jiro, finding this to be the equivalent of watching his parents kiss, messily jumped off of Ino's knees, leaving them to do their "mushy" stuff.

Ino relaxed her legs, giving Itachi the chance to gently push her down on to the couch, easing her legs up so he could comfortably lye on top of her. He rested his knees between her own and pressed their bodies together, causing Ino to blush. He slipped one arm around her waist and the other he kept next to her. They kissed again, this time Itachi trailed it down her neck and chest. He pulled the hand of his free arm up and started undoing the buttons of Ino's vest, trailing the kisses back up her neck and making her moan. He had half of them undone when there was a knock on the door, which he ignored. When the second to last was undone the knock came again, but this time more insistent. He looked up for half a second before looking back down and kissing the blonde beneath him who moaned against his lips. As he finished with the last button the insistent knock turned into an insane banging and a voice was heard from the other side of the door.

"Brother! I know you're in there, please let me in!"

Itachi sighed, aggravated but sympathetic. He knew that voice and he could recognize the pain in it. Suddenly the banging stopped and they hear a soft thud followed by a kind of shifting noise.

"Sorry… I gotta get this."

"I-it's… okay…" Ino stuttered out, still slightly daze by their short "adventure" just a moment ago. Itachi sighed and slid off of Ino, briskly making his way to the door. Behind it was a spiky-haired, emo looking kid a couple years younger than himself. He was sitting with his back to the door and his head in his knees.

"What happened, Sasuke?" he asked. The boy looked up.

"Your fucking father, that's what," he replied. His face had a large, purple bruise on the right side. "Your fucking father bitch slapped me. Mom told me to tell him and THAT'S what happened."

"Oh God," Itachi said, crouching down next to his younger brother. He put a hand on the younger's head, "go to the extra room, okay? You look tired, go to sleep."

"Yea yea yea…"

"None of that shit with me, trust me, all right?"

"Fine." The boy got up and walked into the apartment. He got to the guest room and slammed the door shut. Itachi closed the front door and sat next to Ino, massaging his temple rapidly.

"You okay?" Ino asked, her vest still unbuttoned. Itachi shook his head.

"Nope… I'll take care of him, but I don't deal with them." Ino nodded, then got on her knees and put her hands on Itachi's shoulders. She slid her arms around him and kissed his cheek, then his neck. Itachi roughly gripped her wrist and twisted her, lying back on the couch and pulling her on top of him. She laughed and he smirked. The blonde wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hard. Itachi soothed his hands down her sides. This time she trailed kisses down his neck while he spread her legs over him.

"You bounce back fast," she murmured against his neck. He pressed his fingers in a certain spot between her legs, causing her to jump and gasp. Itachi chuckled; this was going to be fun.

He ran his two fingers down Ino's inner thigh, causing her to jump again. He then bit her neck lightly; the fingers of his other hand dipped into the top of her jeans and pulling them down slightly. Ino's cheeks darkened as she felt the tug on her pants. The blonde leaped to the other side of the couch, then her face darkened to the shade of a tomato after realizing what she'd done. Itachi chuckled somewhat.

"Is there a problem?" he asked. Ino stared at him for a moment.

"Umm, yes! Wait, no, I mean… Uh, well umm you were, uh, m-my pants? And umm we, uh, w-wait, I…"

"Are you okay?"

"Huh? Yes! I just, uh, well… We, umm, you were, uh…"

"Wait, are you a virgin?" Ino's faced turned beat red and she continued to stutter.

"Well, if by virgin! You mean, umm, have not had sex before or is inexperienced or something like that… Or maybe virgin to your house! Wait, what? Umm, I-"

"And that means 'yes'."

Ino finally stopped and dropped her face into her hands. _What the fuck was that?_

Itachi chuckled again and fully sat up, bending one knee towards his chest and dropping the foot of his other leg onto the floor.

"Well, that was unexpected."

Ino curled up into the fetal position and started rocking back and forth, "I'm sorry, it's just… Well, I've never done that before and… I haven't known you for that long, you're great but it's still just…"

Itachi sighed, somewhat aggravated.

"Relax, would ya? I'm not one of those bastards that'll force you into it; I don't care enough for that. You'll get the fuck when you want it." Itachi relaxed his head on the back of the couch. He suddenly felt a weight on him as well as arms wrapping around his neck. He opened his eyes to see it was Ino. Itachi smirked.

"Changed your mind?"

"Thank you…"

"Huh?"

Ino looked down at him, "thank you, I thought you'd be mad at me… Because I don't want to have sex with you yet."

"So it's 'yet'? Well, I'd go to jail for forcing you into it anyway."

Ino kissed him and he kissed back. When they parted Itachi looked out his window, the rain had lightened a bit, but the sky was still dark.

"Want to go for a walk?" he asked. Ino looked out the window.

"But it's still raining."

"Ever heard of an umbrella?"

Ino smiled, "sure, a walk sounds nice."

Ino sat to the side and let Itachi get up, "I'll see if Jiro wants to come," Itachi stood up and quickly bent down to pick up the forgotten remote off the floor, but stopped short and convulsed slightly, gripping his side, "fuck..!" Itachi fell back onto the couch.

"Oh my God, Itachi? Are you okay?" he shook his head rapidly, trying to shake the pain off.

"I'm fine, it's just my ribs," Itachi stood up again threw his arms above his head, stretching. "I'll go get Jiro." Ino stood up and followed him.

"Wait, what's wrong with your ribs, what happened?" Itachi walked into his room.

"Nothing, just a fight."

"A fight? What fight? Wait… In the alley… Was it then?"

Itachi chuckled, "hell no. I'm a boxer." Ino paused.

Itachi walked over to Jiro's large, plush pillow where he was currently sleeping. Itachi petted the puppy's head gently, "well, he's out… He'll probably be up in the next few hours so he'll be okay," Itachi stood up, "I'll get the umbrella and we can head out, want to borrow a hoodie?"

Ino looked down at herself and nodded, then quickly began re-doing the buttons of her vest. By the time she got to the door Itachi was waiting for her with a large, black umbrella and a gray hoodie, matching his black one.

"How many of those do you have?"

"Ever make it to my closet and you'll get lost in them," he threw the hoodie at Ino, who pulled it over her head. The bottom came only an inch or two above her knees and there wasn't even a hint of her fingers at the ends of the sleeves. She pushed the sleeves up just over her wrist and chuckled at how much it bunched up.

"Do you actually fit these?"

"I fit them better then you do."

Itachi opened the door and Ino walked out. He turned off the light to the apartment, followed Ino out the door and locked it behind him.

"So, we walking anywhere in specific?" she asked.

"Not exactly, I just enjoy getting out in the rain sometimes."

They walked down three flights of steps until they finally got to the sidewalk. Itachi opened the umbrella and walked, with Ino, down the sidewalk, heading nowhere in specific.

"So..." Ino said, "you said in the apartment that you're a boxer?" Itachi nodded.

"So, what happened in your last fight?" she asked. Itachi looked at the sky in the distance.

"Nothing much. I got to fight Niro Hanma, so-called 'bad ass'. He was pretty good, but we ended up having too much fun."

"Fun...?" Ino repeated, confused. "You mean, like, making jokes, 'ha-ha' fun?" Itachi shook his head. "But then what kind of fun do you mean...?"

"The only kind of fun boxers have in the ring. Eventually our coaches stepped in... Apparently if we kept having fun we'd end up in the hospital."

"Hospital...?" _So boxers have fun beating the shit out of each other?_

"So that's why you missed school for two weeks?" Itachi shrugged.

"Could have come back after a few days if I wanted, but I didn't really feel like it." Ino chuckled.

"Wow, I guess you're really committed to your education." Ino chuckled again.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

(2 months later, middle of November)

"Lunch time!" Sakura sang out, dragging the two girls to the roof. Friday mornings were always the hardest for Ino, she always found it difficult to concentrate. This week had been really nice, Itachi had come back to school and while they didn't exactly talk, seeing him there was comfort enough for her. Besides, she still had her Saturday getaways to Itachi's apartment.

When lunch was finished her group headed for the door, she was the last out. Going down the stairs she felt a hand grab her own and pull her sharply backward. She caught herself on the wall.

"What the hell was-? Oh, Itachi." He chuckled slightly and towered over her. He rested his forearm on the wall slightly above Ino's head and leaned in.

"We still on for tomorrow?" he asked. Ino nodded.

"Good, 'cause plans have changed. Wear something you can hike in. Bring some food, a change of clothes, a really big towel and, knowing the guys, wear a bathing suit." Ino's eyes widened slightly

"Bathing suit? Towel? THE GUYS? What, are we going to Hokkaido?"

Itachi shook his head, "no, you'll see. Class starts in two minutes so I'll see you tomorrow."

Itachi passed her and headed down the stairs. Just before he turned the corner he yelled up at Ino, who was walking much slower than him "oh, and, instead of noon, be out at 4 in the morning."

Ino stopped dead, "wait, did you just say 4 IN THE MORNING? Itachi!" She ran after him.

_**TBC**_

**Author's Notes: Dear Author, why is Sasuke gay in all of your stories? XD I actually don't know why I always make him gay. It's just hotter like that for me, I gotta have ONE gay guy! Anywho, I hope you enjoyed! I'll see when I can upload the next chapter, it shouldn't be more then a week. After I finish my Chinese, Psychology and History projects and my research essay for English class I'll edit the next chapter. Yea, I'm not making you wait for fun, school sucks! Anywho, review and see you next time! Wee!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Boy, it's been a while! Sorry for the long wait, I've had standardized tests**

**and allot of homework and reading to do! Well, here's the next chapter, I had to go back and**

**re-edit the first four pages, but it's finally here so I hope you enjoy this little adventure!**

***Hands out brownies***

**The Thin Line**

Chapter 4:

"Hey, Mom, I'm home!" Ino yelled into her, seemingly, empty house. Her mother scurried to the door.

"You're early, what about Cram School?"

"Good news! It was canceled today. A chemistry experiment gone wrong wreaked havoc on half the school, I'm free for the next week or two," she slipped off her black air force.

"Interesting. Well, now we can leave early!"

"Leave early?"

"Didn't your father tell you? We're going to dinner with his bosses, they may promote him! I'll go tell him to get dressed, we need to go out and find him another pair of sacks!" her mother scurried off.

Ino walked to the living room where her father was sitting on their khaki, suede couch watching TV. Ino plopped down next to him.

'Whatcha watchin'?" she asked, freaked out by the women tied to some weird thing on the screen, clad only in her underwear.

"Criminal Minds, it's a Western show."

"What the hell is going on?"

"They're tracking down a serial killer, who just so happens to be the elderly man on the screen."

The man began shocking the woman that was tied up and she screamed terribly. Ino laid back.

"You are one strange, old man if you're watching this."

"Hey, the Americans are the strange ones for comin' up with this." Ino thought of Seed of Chucky and twitched a bit.

"I heard that, old man," she replied and high-fived her father.

She watched the rest of the show with her father. The second hostage the man had was saved by a bunch of SWAT kind of people and was lectured for being in that situation, apparently she was a cop. The woman being shocked ended up dead. Another episode of the same show began with two strange men invading a house and killing a family of four. When the show cut to commercial Ino spoke.

"Hey, Dad, can I go out with my friends tomorrow?" the man looked at her.

"Depends on where?"

"I think we're going to Okinawa for the day."

"Hokkaido? That's a whiles away."

"Yea, I have to go meet them at 4 in the morning."

Her father paused then laughed, "if you can even wake up that early you can go. Just wake me up before you leave so I know you're gone, okay?"

"No problem."

"I didn't even know you had friends."

"And I didn't know how many gray hairs were in your beard."

"Midget."

"Blondie."

"Weird kid."

"Old man."

And, with that, the show began playing once more.

BOOM!

Ino screamed and fell off her bed.

"What the-!" she looked at her clock, it was three.

"Why do I use a bomb sound as my alarm?" _Because it gets my ass out of bed._

Ino, too tired to stand up, crawled to the bathroom and took a hot shower, which successfully woke her up. She decided to wear her blue, white and red floral print bikini. She wore a black crop t-shirt with the words 'This is what awesome looks like' in white letters with a pair of blue jean shorts.

Ino walked into the kitchen, remembering Itachi had said to bring something to eat. She turned on the light and saw a large, cube shaped navy blue bento on the counter. On the top was a bright yellow sticky note. Ino picked it up and read it aloud.

"'Dear Ino, your father told me you were going out with your friends today! So I packed something for you all to eat, I hope it's enough, I don't know many of your friends will be there! You're so popular! Love, Mom.' Aww, Mom, you're so sweet," Ino smiled. Her mother really was sweet, and she loved her for it. She got her black backpack from her room and put the bento inside. She then got a large towel and grabbed a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt from her drawer then stuffed it in the bag as well. She checked the time.

"3:50? How does the time pass by so quickly..."

"It's probably your half hour showers," came a voice from the dark hallway, making Ino jump.

"Dad? What are you doing up?"

"I'm thirsty, so sew me. Are you really going out like that?" Ino looked down at herself.

"Yes, Okinawa equals swimming, Dad."

"Yea, yea, yea..." Her father walked to the fridge and picked out a bottle of water. "Well, have fun, short stuff, I'll see you later."

"Sleep well, old man."

After her father went back to bed she ran to her room to brush her hair, deciding to leave it down. She decided to bring the brush, shoving it in to her bag, and then she fixed it onto her back. When she saw the clock hit 4 she walked out her door. She took a deep breath, letting the fresh air fill her lungs. It was still pitch black out, the sun didn't usually come up until 6:30 or 7. She strolled down her walkway and, upon reaching the end, saw Itachi sitting in his usual spot.

He was leaning on his bike, wearing a semi tight black t-shirt that easily showed off his toned upper body. His pants were baggy black cargo shorts coming well below his knees and he still had his goggle like sunglasses on. He was illuminated by the street light above him and Ino sighed, _I got a real hottie!_

Ino walked over to Itachi, who leaned off of his bike a bit. When she reached him he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her flush against him. Ino giggle and blushed a bit, but still slid her arms around Itachi's neck and gave him a light kiss.

"How are you always on time?" she asked.

"It's the way I was born." He stood up straight and handed Ino a helmet. She put it on and got on the bike behind Itachi. Their long, nearly half an hour ride brought them to a forest like place at the base of a mountain. The only inhabitant of the large, empty space before the forest was a big, electric blue Chevrolet Avalanche with four people sitting in the back, their heads and faces illuminated by four flash lights. It was still only 4:30 in the morning. One of the boys looked back.

"Yo, Itachi, you made it!" Diedara yelled.

Itachi slowed the bike to a stop parallel to the truck. Ino took off her helmet and got off and Itachi soon followed after, setting his custom alarm on his bike.

"Hey, Ino, give me the helmet, we can put it in the truck."

Ino walked to the back of the truck and handed Kisame the helmet. Itachi walked up behind her, sliding his sunglasses into his pocket.

"Ready to go?" Sasori asked, tossing a flashlight at both Ino and Itachi. All four of their boys put on their backpacks and jumped out of the truck. Sasori passed Itachi a backpack.

"Wait... Where are we going?" Ino asked.

Deidara was the last to jump out, "in there!"

The blonde pointed in the direction of the dark, quiet forest before them.

"Okay, so... Are we waiting until daylight then?' Ino checked her watch, it was 4:35.

"Nope!" Hidan answered, "we're going in RIGHT NOW," Hidan shined the light on his face, "scared much?"

Ino walked over to Hidan and hit him in the back of the head with her flashlight, "like hell!"

"Then let's go in!" Deidara said, leading the group into the dark forest.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Diedara ran into the forest and Ino followed him, "don't you think you should wait for us?" she yelled, going after him. She stopped and looked back, she was only a few yards into the forest but the intense darkness made by the trees was already apparent. She saw lights behind her, probably from the boys, which reminded her of the flash light in her hand. She looked back in the direction Deidara had ran in. His flash light was bouncing madly around the forest, sliding off trees and illuminating his bright, blonde hair.

"Hey are you guys there?" Ino heard Sasori yell. Before she could answer Deidara's laughter echoed throughout the forest for a few seconds then suddenly stopped, only the clink of his flash light hitting the ground could be heard. Ino froze, unsure of what happened.

"Hey, you okay?" Kisame asked Ino when the four boys caught up to her. Ino slowly turned to them.

"Deidara? Did he… I don't know, fall down a ditch or something?"

Hidan flashed his light in his face, "what the hell are you talking about?"

"I think he's gone! Look, his flashlight! Come on!" Ino ran in the direction of the grounded flashlight and the four others followed her, confused and sure that there was something wrong with her. They reached the flash light and looked around; no Deidara.

"See! He's gone!"

"Well maybe he's… just… hiding…?" Kisame stopped, seeing a raindrop hit the ground in front of the flash light. "That's weird," he stated, crouching down, "I didn't smell any rain…" he swiped two fingers over the raindrop and looked at them in the light. "Fuck!" he flinched and sprang up, backing away from the flash light, which now had a spot of red on the corner.

"Kisame, what the-" a few gusts of wind blew some leaves onto her face and she brushed them away. She flashed her light back towards the boys to find two missing. "What the-? Where's Kisame and Hidan?" Itachi and Sasori looked around.

"Damn…" Sasori muttered, Itachi shrugged. "I knew we shouldn't have come here…" the red head stated. Ino looked at him.

"What do you mean? Where are we?"

Sasori looked up, his face frighteningly serious, "Aokigahara."

"Aokigahara?"

"The Forest of Death." Ino's breath caught in her throat. She finally managed to stutter.

"Forest… of… DEATH?" she nearly yelled, Sasori nodded.

"They say the trees move, that there are spirits and demons that prey on all the humans that are stupid enough to enter… But that's just a myth," Sasori shrugged.

Itachi looked around, he'd heard of the legends of Aokigahara but never thought he'd experience them first hand. He sighed as he noticed Ino's expression. His knowledge of her emotions helped him realize that the blonde was completely freaking out, like there was a small, nuclear bomb going off in her head. Sasori, eventually noticed it too.

"Hey, it's just legend, okay? We'll find them, they're probably just trying to play a trick on us," he ran his sleeve over his mouth and quickly swung a hand into the darkness, a motion that was supposed to mean 'they're around here somewhere', when the red head flinched, his eyes suddenly sprang wide open. He made a painful sound, causing Ino to jump.

"Sasori, are you okay?"

Sasori threw his head down. Ino finally noticed Sasori's hand and half of his forearm in the darkness, the rest of his arm being pulled painfully taunt. He threw his head back up and coughed, sputtering up blood. As some of the drops landed on Ino's wrists and arms the boy was violently pulled into the darkness. After a few moments of total silence Ino let out a blood curling scream. She dropped to her knees, eyes filled with tears, she was scared so far out of her mind she could see into another dimension.

"What… What… WHAT'S GOING ON HERE? Itachi, did you see that? What the fuck's going on?" she looked up at the young man who's face was hidden by a long curtain of his black hair. He lifted his head up slightly, his face shown a dark, almost sinister grin. He smoothed his hair back with his hand to reveal blood red eyes with black, cross like slits for pupils. Ino felt her blood run ice cold.

"Itachi…?" he laughed, forcing Ino's, now cold, blood to nearly stop running all together. He jutted his chin up, pointing to the tree behind her, then turned around and slowly walked away.

"Itachi? Wait, Itachi! Wait!" the slight cackle echoed through the woods and the darkness took his form. Ino was not only scared, she was sure she'd lost her mind. While combing her thoughts for any memories of drug use she was quickly distracted by a loud thud behind her. She suddenly remembered Itachi's last gesture before being eaten by the, oh-so-thickening, darkness. She looked behind her and released a scream similar to the one before. She jumped back, falling back on her hands. It was Deidara, his eyes and mouth slightly open, his body limp and blood soaking his orange shirt and the ends of his hair. His wrists and neck were dark with blood and the stains on his shirt concentrated around his stomach.

The tears welling up in Ino's eyes spilled out and rain down her cheeks. She tried to scream but she couldn't find her voice. Soon everything went dark and she passed out on the cold, forest floor…

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Hello? Hellooooo?"

"Come on, wake up."

"Maybe she's dead."

"Shut up, maybe your dead."

"Both of you shut up, she's awake."

Ino slowly opened her eyes, the bright light in her face burning them. "Get that out my face!" Ino sat up and immediately froze. She looked around to find five boys, all their faces illuminated by flash lights.

"What the-? You guys… You guys are…!"

"It's okay!" Deidara said cheerily, now wearing a clean, neon green shirt, blood still dry on his skin. Ino jumped up and away from the dead-but-alive looking teen.

"What the fuck? YOU'RE WALKING DEAD PEOPLE!" The boys burst out laughing which caused Ino's frustration level to rise dramatically. "Wait… You fucking people… Played… A joke… On me?" the boys nodded and were surprised to see Ino join them on the floor and begin laughing too. She pulled her knees up and relaxed her arms on them. "Wow, you guys are good at that stuff! How'd you pull it off?" Deidara swiped his thumb on the bottom of his nose.

"Lots of food coloring, effort, and big ass branches," he stated proudly. Ino looked to Itachi.

"What about your eyes?"

He looked to her, slightly confused, before remembering exactly what she was talking about. The young man searched with his flashlight for his bag and, upon finding it, pulled out a small, white case from the front pocket, "contacts." Ino nodded.

"So… big ass branches? What were those for?"

"The gust of wind you felt? And the leaves? It was two birds with one stone." Ino nodded again.

"Cool. So… Can I see them?"

"Sure!" Deidara stood up and picked up his flash light. Everyone followed him to where he'd hidden the large tree branches. When Ino saw them she grinned, "wow, they **are** big! But I thought they would have been over there…" Ino squinted in the opposite direction, which all five boys looked in. When they turned away, Ino, with only slight difficulty, picked up the incredibly large, and heavy, tree branch and swung it toward the boys who were, conveniently, standing in a straight line. However, Itachi and Sasori, who'd sensed something wrong with Ino's unexplainably calm behavior, and who were at the end of the line, ducked out of the way. Deidara, Kisame and Hidan, whom didn't think anything was the matter, were bludgeoned with the branch and flew into a nearby tree.

Sasori and Itachi, hearing the small cracks and groans from the three boys, couldn't help but fall on the ground laughing. This was the first time Itachi had done something other then snicker or smirk. So, knowing that this might never happen again, Ino fell down and laughed with the two.

The injured boys detached themselves from each other and the tree and brushed themselves off, stretching their sides and backs, resulting in more cracking and popping sounds.

"Is our pain funny to you?" Hidan asked, white lights shining on the faces of his friends whom were, currently, dying of laughter. Sasori wiped a forming tear from his eye.

"Frankly, yes" he managed to choke out between violent giggle fits. The white haired boy attempted to kick the red head, but missed completely and slipped on a pile of leaves, falling on his back.

"Oh!" yelled Ino, Kisame, and Deidara and unison. Hidan coughed and sat up.

"God Damnitt!

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

After picking up the pieces of the broken Hidan, the group hiked up the, so-called, trail to a slightly open field. They settled down a few yards from a small river and made a fire. Sasori constantly insisted that Deidara make it smaller but the pyro refused. They set their bags down in a pile and gathered around the campfire.

"We're pretty far in," Kisame stated, "so we shouldn't get any sunlight for another hour and a half or so.

"Really? That… Long…? Deidara did Ino hit you in the neck with that tree branch?" Everyone looked at Deidara, then to Hidan, then back to Deidara.

"What do you mean, Hidan? I thought I hit you guys in the side, not the neck…"

"Then what's up with the bruise?"

Deidara moved his hand to the purple spot on his neck and chuckled a bit. Ino's eyes widened.

"Deidara, is that a hickey?"

The boy nodded.

"Sweet!" Hidan leaned forward to hi-five the blonde boy, "who was it?"

Deidara hesitated for a moment before saying "Toru." Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Toru?" Kisame asked, "You mean the little sophomore with the big tits?" he asked. Deidara nodded.

"She fuckin' ambushed me! But… She ain't too bad…"

Ino knew Toru; they were in the same Gym class. The girl was pretty small and, as for her boobs, the blonde was always worried the other girl would knock herself out with those things.

"She's pounced on me before as well, the girl's an animal," Sasori stated, pulling out a bottle of water from his bag and taking a sip.

"Wow, is she really that bad? She always acts so sweet in class…" Ino muttered. Sasori nodded.

"She is sweet; however, her hormones seem to take control of her brain sometimes after school. She should get that checked," the red head stated casually, taking another sip of his water.

Ino never really knew how it felt to have her hormones take over… Until she met Itachi, but she was proud to say she could still keep control.

"So, Dei," Hidan started, "Toru the only girl you've been having fun with recently?"

"Yea," Deidara stated, "unlike you, Hidan, I prefer to switch every few weeks, not every few days-"

"More like hours," Itachi cut in, swiftly swiping the bottle of water from Sasori and taking a sip.

"Like you can talk much, Itachi. Weren't there three different girls this week? Or maybe four?"

Ino looked at Itachi, feeling a crack in her heart. _That can't be true, right? I'm mean, they're just joking… right?_

Itachi felt the girl's gaze on him and shifted a bit. He scratched the back of his head before saying "just three."

Ino thought her chest exploded, feeling her heart shatter. Itachi was cheating on her? And he just ADMITTED IT? Did he forget she was right there! The boys eventually noticed the distraught look on her face then Deidara shouted "get the sleeping bags! Time to go to sleep!" The blonde boy jumped up and went to the pile of backpacks and pulled out five sleeping bags. He threw one to each boy. Ino managed to break out of her heartbroken state.

"What? But it's five in the morning and I'm not even tired."

"Hey, scaring the shit out of you is tiring so too bad!" Kisame told her. Ino massaged her temples, these guys were giving her a headache.

"You guys should have told me we were going to sleep here; I didn't bring a sleeping bag."

"Oh, I passed you one!" Deidara quickly stated before slipping into his own sleeping bag and zipping it up over his head. Ino looked around for said sleeping bag but she couldn't find it.

"Hey, no you didn't!"

"Yes I did, I passed it to Itachi!" Ino looked at Itachi.

"But he only has one!"

"Exactly!"

Ino looked back at Itachi, who shrugged. "Looks like we're sharing," he said.

Ino thought about sleeping on the bare forest floor but gave up the thought after she remembered how much she hates bugs. She, unhappily, crawled into the sleeping bag with Itachi, whom zipped it up when both of them were inside.

The fire the group had made was slowly burning out as, one by one, the boys drifted off to sleep. Ino was the only one left awake and, being such, was left to her own thoughts. Ino was contemplating revenge on the boy sleeping next to her. How dare he cheat on her? What the hell was he thinking? She looked over at him; his hands were placed comfortably under his head, his body facing the stars. She looked at his sleeping face and scooted a bit closer, resting her head on his arm. Tears began welling up in her eyes.

"How could you do this to me?" she whispered.

"Do what?"

The girl jumped at the whispered reply. Itachi turned his face towards her.

"I thought you were asleep…" Ino replied. Itachi looked back up.

"My eyes were closed."

"I realized…" Ino muttered.

"So, what did I do?" Itachi asked again, sitting up to turn on his side, supporting the weight of his head on his hand. Ino sighed.

"If you don't know already then you're not going to know," Ino turned around, feeling her chest heat up in anger. She suddenly felt strong arms sliding around her waist, then she was pulled flush into Itachi's body.

"You're cute when you're angry," Itachi whispered into the girl's ear and she blushed. Ino immediately began tugging at his arms.

"Don't do that! I'm pissed at you!" she whispered angrily as she struggled vainly at Itachi's hold on her. He chuckled.

"We both know you love when I hold you like this," he whispered tauntingly. "And," he started, ghosting his lips down the blonde's neck, "you love when I kiss you here," he gently pressed his lips to the skin a little over an inch above the juncture of Ino's neck and shoulder. "It sends a spark down your spine. And when I kiss you here," this time he dipped a little lower to kiss the juncture directly, "it makes your toes go numb. Then when I kiss you here…" Itachi kissed the nape of her neck and Ino gasped, "You start to tingle right… here." Itachi slid his hand between Ino's legs, causing a slight moan to escape her lips.

"Damnitt, stop touching me…"

Itachi massaged Ino's womanhood roughly, causing another moan to escape her. She quickly brought her hands up to her mouth to quiet herself. "You know, saying stop loses its affect when you press into my hand like that," he whispered and kissed the nape of her neck again. Itachi swiftly unbuttoned her shorts and reached his hand in, massaging her firmly through her bathing suit. He then felt for her entrance with his middle finger and pressed on it through the cloth, causing the blonde to jump.

"Good thing you're wearing a bikini, it'll dry faster if you come…" and, once again, he kissed the nape of her neck, however this time it sent a kind of spark to her private and made her moan. Itachi slipped a hand into her bikini and pressed his middle finger more firmly to her entrance, slipping it in.

Ino yelped and covered her mouth again. This was one thing the blonde both loved and hated about Itachi. She was furious with him, he'd admitted to being with three other girls just THIS WEEK. She was supposed to be hitting him and yelling at him! But, instead, she'd become putty in his hands. Wet, moaning putty. Said boy's forgotten hand unwrapped from around Ino and pulled one of her hands from her mouth and to his groin, he was hard.

"I want you. Question is if you think you can handle me?"

"Were you really with three other girls this week?" Ino managed weakly.

"That's not an answer-"

"Were you?" Ino asked angrily.

"Yes. But I wasn't asking if you think they could handle me."

"How could you do that?"

"Do what?"

Ino closed her eyes, preventing her tears from falling, "how could… you cheat on me?"

Itachi paused for a moment, then chuckled. "That's impossible, I can't cheat on you." Ino opened her eyes. So he didn't do it? So he really does- "We're not together so it's not possible for me to cheat on you." Ino's eyes widened.

"What?"

Itachi slipped two fingers into Ino, quickly moving them in and out. The girl moaned loudly and bit her lip. _The bastard!_

Itachi pressed himself against Ino and kissed her neck, "so, are you ready?"

Before even the girl had realized she was moving, she pulled herself out of the sleeping bag and ran, half jumping and half falling into the calm river they'd set up camp beside. All five of the boys looked at the river, hearing the splash. Everyone sat up in their sleeping bag as the soaking wet blonde walked back over to them.

"So, got bored and decided to go for a swim?" Deidara asked innocently.

"Or was it getting to hot in that sleeping bag?" Hidan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Obviously choice two," Sasori said, "Ino just can't keep her moans to herself." Ino blushed a bit.

"You're cool, Sasori, please don't make me kill you," Ino commented. Itachi chuckled; he always enjoyed Ino's reactions to these types of situations. The girl sat on a rock waiting for two things; for the sun to come up and for her clothes to dry.

Thank God she was wearing a bathing suit.

**_TBC_**

**Author's Notes: For those of you that suggested some stuff or improvements (in your opinion), I'm sorry I couldn't add any of them! A great deal of this story is already written and I don't decide allot of things, I merely bring my best friend's fanfiction dreams to life. Still, I hope you enjoyed it, review ad stay tuned for the next chapter.**

**SEE YA! =D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ah, the next chapter! Sorry this took so long and I apologize for any mistakes or anything in here!**

**I don't think there are... But, I had to edit this while staying at a friend's ho****use and her little sisters were**

**constantly jumping me and asking me to arm wrestle -_- Anywho, please enjoy!**

**The Thin Line**

Chapter 5:

Everyone awoke around 6:30 in the morning and packed up. Sasori doused the fire and Deidara re-packed the sleeping bags. Luckily for her, Ino's clothes were mostly dry by the time they started their hike and made their way to a large mountain. Ino was having fun, more or less. She'd decided to, temporarily, forget about the episode with Itachi and enjoy hanging out with her new friends. The boys were a lot of fun, always making jokes and tackling each other, they really made Ino feel at home. There was just one thing the girl wasn't sure about…

"Where are we going?"

Kisame, whom was walking next to her, shrugged. "I don't know."

"Oh… Sasori, where are we going?"

"Not a clue," the red head replied. Ino raised an eyebrow.

"Do any of you know where we're going?" There was a slight silence.

"You mean we're supposed to already know where we're going?" Deidara asked. Ino's jaw dropped.

"Duh! You mean you have absolutely NO IDEA where we're going?" she shouted. All the boys, including Itachi, shrugged.

"Not even the slightest," Sasori stated.

"Are you kidding me? So are we lost?"

There was another pause before Itachi, who was walking a little ways behind her said "probably".

"Jesus, I'm gonna kill you people!"

"Come on, Ino, just chill, have some fun!" the white haired boy wondered to the edge of a cliff and looked down. "Hey, I think that's a lake!"

Everyone walked to where he stood and looked over the side. Hidan was right, about thirty or forty five feet below the edge of the cliff was a large, bright blue lake. Hidan looked up at Deidara, "I bet I can make that."

Deidara looked down at the lake and back at Hidan, "ha-ha, like hell!"

Hidan backed up from the cliff and dropped his back pack. The boy took off his shirt and started stretching out his arms.

"Wait, you aren't going to… are you?" Deidara asked. Hidan looked at him.

"Why shouldn't I? Looks like fun!"

"But that lake could be shallow you know," Ino stated, "if you jump in there's a fifty fifty chance you'll, well I don't know… DIE?"

Hidan stood there for a moment before crouching down, "you're right Ino…"

Said blonde girl closed her eyes and nodded her head, happy he was listening. But her pride was interrupted by the sound of brisk footsteps heading towards the cliff, "but I won't know until I try!" Hidan sang out before jumping off the edge.

Everyone ran to the edge of the cliff after Hidan. In seconds he was in the water. Ino kneeled down to get a closer look.

"See any blood yet?" Itachi asked. Kisame shrugged.

"Wait… there he is!" the blonde girl shouted. Hidan poked his head out the water and looked up at his friends.

"I couldn't even get to the bottom!" he shouted. "So, how'd you like the dive?" Sasori chuckled.

"Eight point five!" Sasori shouted down.

"I give it an even nine!" Deidara shouted down. Kisame gave a mock gasp.

"Eight point five? Nine? What you saw there was an amateur!" Kisame dropped his back pack and took off his shirt and shoes. "Time to see a professional!"

The swimmer walked briskly to the edge of the cliff, "SWAN DIVE!" and he leapt off. The four people left on the cliff looked into the water. Soon they saw Kisame's head poke out of the surface.

"Now THAT was worthy of a Gad Damn ten!" he shouted up.

"You guys should come down here, the water's flippin' awesome!" Hidan yelled, swimming around on his back. Deidara shrugged and, like the first two boys, stripped himself of his back pack, his shirt and his shoes.

"Well, when in Rome!" With those words the blonde ran toward the end of the cliff and jumped off. Ino looked down after him.

"This is Japan, not Rome!"

The last three of the group stood at the top of the cliff. "So," Ino started, "how are they getting back up here?" she asked.

"I think we'll have to go down," Sasori answered.

"So, you found a trail?" asked the blonde, hopefully.

"Nope," said the red head. He put the other boys' shoes and shirt in their respective back packs and put them in a pile.

"So, how are we getting those down?"

Sasori looked around. Soon he picked up one bag and threw it. It flew into a tree and one of the arms got caught on a branch. He did the same to the last two bags.

"Oh, so they can climb up and get them," Ino stated, looking at the tree's position to the lake. When she looked back to Sasori she saw him taking off his shirt and shoes. The girl couldn't help but notice all the guys in the group have a six pack, and she wasn't thinking about soda. Oh, how she loved her luck.

The boy put his shirt and shoes in his backpack and threw them onto the tree with the other four bags.

"Wait, you're jumping off too?"

The red head shrugged and gave her a slight grin. He jumped off the edge of the cliff and landed in between Kisame and Deidara. Ino looked down at the four, wet boys.

"There's no way in hell I'm jumping off this cliff." Suddenly she felt something tugging at her own backpack, it was Itachi. He took it from her and threw it onto the same tree, then did the same with his own.

"Hey! Why'd you do that?"

"It'd be easier to hike it down without a load on our backs." Ino muttered an "oh yea" to herself before looking down the cliff again.

"Look over there," Itachi stated," I think that's a trail to the lake."

"Really?" Ino shielded her eyes from the sun and looked in the direction Itachi had pointed to. Then, without warning, she was swept off her feet and into Itachi's arms.

"Let's go," he said.

_He's… carrying me?_ Ino blushed until Itachi started running… in the wrong direction.

"Wait a minute, you said-!" He held on to her tightly and jumped of the cliff. Ino held on to the boy's neck for dear life.

"You son of a bitch!" And they hit the water.

The two parted under water and swam to the top, where Ino immediately flipped out.

"Itachi, I'm going to kill you!" The boy chuckled and swam to the edge of the lake. Ino followed him and got out. She decided, since she was already wet (again), she'd just go for a swim. She took off her shoes, pants and her crop tee to reveal a white and blue, floral print bikini. She laid her stuff out on a rock to dry and stopped to watch Itachi remove his shirt. He slid the black fabric up his body and over his head to reveal eight pack abs and a perfectly chiseled chest. The muscles on his arms fit perfectly with his body and his tan was even. Ino bit her lip.

_Damn, he should take off his shirt more often. _

After the boy took off his shoes they both re-entered the water with their friends. Ino realized, even though she didn't want to do it, jumping off the edge of that cliff with Itachi was fun. She'd have to find the trail back up there so she could do it again! Until then she had fun dunking Deidara under water and ignored the thoughts nagging at the back of her head.

_Itachi said we aren't dating… So what AM I to him?_

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

After a couple hours of fooling around in the lake the group exited it, mostly because they swore something was trying to eat them. They started drying off and Ino put on her shorts. She was drying off her hair when Hidan shouted.

"Look, there it is!" and, low and behold, there it was. A large, eel like creature with thorn like spikes on its back arching above the water. By this time the head wasn't visible and it took a good thirty seconds before the tail was under as well. Everyone's jaw dropped.

"Where the FUCK did that come from?" Itachi asked.

"This lake is connected to the river we camped out by, I felt the current. That's probably where it came from."

"So… What should we do about it?" Deidara asked. The teens all looked at each other.

"I don't know about you but I didn't see shit!" Hidan said, a slightly frightened but amused look on his face. Kisame nodded.

"I saw nothing." Kisame stated. Everyone eventually followed. It was one of those things where you avoid it as long as possible so there's no chance people will think you're crazy. Besides, there were no people, or limbs, missing. No harm done, right?

When the group, once again, saw the creature's back above the water they quickly got their bags from the nearby tree, dressed and exited hastily, all hoping the creature couldn't walk on land.

"So," Ino started, "how are we gonna get out of this place?"

Sasori searched through his bag for a bit before pulling out a cell phone looking device.

"GPS, I already have the position of the truck in it. We'll follow it back."

And that's what they did. Ino kept the thought of killing them for making her think earlier that they were hopelessly lost out of her mind. Around 9:30 they'd found their way out of the forest and back to the truck. Ino had to admit that, even though they'd scared the shit out of her plenty of times, she really loved her time with them this morning.

"So, who's hungry?" Kisame asked. Everyone shouted their replies which were, more or less, all "yes". They all climbed into the back of the electric blue avalanche and sat down. Kisame pulled the cooler into the middle and opened it, handing out cans of soda. The rest of the group opened their bags and pulled out bentos. Surprisingly Ino's wasn't the biggest. Sasori's bento box easily towered hers. They moved the cooler to the side and everyone stood up as Deidara set out a blanket that he'd brought with him. Everyone spread their bentos in the middle of the blanket. At that point everything belonged to everyone and, seeing as no had eaten since the night before, they were all starving. Even though it was dangerous, Ino enjoyed the life or death chopstick battle with the group of boys… Her friends.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

The morning seemed to slip away from them while they ate. They shared stories and jokes, recalled their funny episodes in the forest that had happened only hours ago. Ino had never felt so relaxed while hanging out with a large group of friends as she did being with the boys. It was really nice to be herself, for a change, and not having to worry about being annoyed about it.

At around noon the band split up; Kisame drove Hidan, Deidara and Sasori home while Ino went back to Itachi's apartment. It was much closer than her house was and she at wanted a shower as soon as possible. They reached his door as Ino finally caught the smell of forest and dirt on her. It smelled nice while sitting in the shade of the mountain, however SHE didn't need to smell like a tree.

"Here," Itachi said, throwing her a large, black towel.

"Any chance you can lend me some soap?" she asked, not minding the idea of smelling like Itachi. The boy walked into another room and came out with a white bottle; he handed it to her.

"Pink Jasmine and white clay…? You actually use this?"

"No, it's my younger brother's."

"So your younger brother likes to smell like a girl?"

"He just doesn't want to smell like me."

"Why not? You smell sexy."

"People can smell sexy?"

"Wait, you mean I said that out loud?"

Itachi chuckled a bit and Ino blushed, "well, I guess I'll go get clean now!" she said, then jogged to the bathroom. Itachi sat on the couch and was soon jumped by Jiro. He pet the dog, whom wagged his tail happily.

"So, excited to go to the vet tomorrow?"

With that the puppy's tail stopped wagging and he looked up at his master, his eyes big and pleading. Itachi knew this as the "please don't take me to the Doctor" look. Itachi chuckled, "I'm sorry, Jiro, but you gotta go. Don't worry; you'll get a treat afterwards."

The dog yipped happily and allowed his master to continue petting him

Fifteen minutes later the shower was still running and the bathroom could have been easily mistaken for a steam room. Ino rinsed the last bit of suds off of her skin and turned around to soak her hair. The hot water felt so heavenly on her scalp she didn't even hear the sound of the door opening.

Itachi closed the door quietly and leaned on the sink right next to the shower. After a moment he heard the shower knob turn and the water stopped running. He took this moment to quickly pull open the black shower curtain to reveal a naked Ino.

"What the-!" Ino ripped the towel down and covered herself with it, "what are you doing?"

Itachi smirked, she looked good naked.

"Just thought you might want to wash your hair?" he said defensively, holding up the bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Ino wrapped the towel around herself and took the shampoo bottle; it was a traditional Japanese brand.

"Wow, this is a really old brand. So, is this your brother's too?"

"It's mine," he said, rolling his eyes a bit.

"Wow, is it good?"

"Is my hair perfect?" Itachi asked mockingly. He put his palm to his forehead and smoothed his bangs out of his face and over the top of his head. Ino leaned in a bit.

_Damn, it is perfect._

Ino took the conditioner from his hand, "thanks…"

"No problem," he said and walked out of the bathroom. Ino closed the shower curtain and put her towel back up. As she ran the water again she couldn't help but wonder if the real reason for this coming in was just to see her naked… Of course it wasn't! He just wanted to surprise her… right?

After Itachi exited the bathroom he walked to the couch where Jiro was lying on his back. The dog rolled over and looked up at his master. The dog tilted his head a bit to the side and blinked a few times, Itachi recognized this look as "what did you just do?'

"Hey, I just went to give her some shampoo," he sat down and picked the dog up, laying him on his lap, "and seeing Ino naked was... Just a bonus," Itachi smirked and scratched the dog behind the ear.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

When Ino came out of the bathroom she was dressed in one of Itachi's large, black t-shirts and a pair of boxer shorts. She was greeted by the sound of music coming through Itachi's speakers; it was rock. Said boy was lying on his couch, head on the armrest and his eyes covered by his forearm, he was mouthing along to the words.

"**You're the girl with the red dress on; you're the girl that I dream about drifting away**."

Ino smiled, she always wondered what songs Itachi liked since he already knew she was a Pop girl.

"**I'm so in love with the thought of lovin' you baby**."

Ino would probably like the song… if it weren't for the creepy screaming; the words were almost sweet.

She crept to Itachi's room and set the towel on his hamper. She then picked up a comb off of his dresser and combed her hair thoroughly, starting from the ends and working her way up. She wondered back into the living room.

"**I dream of a day, oh, kissing the pain away**…"

The blonde girl leaned on the wall next to the bedroom doorway and waited for the song to end. When it did there was a strong silence before Itachi sat up, bringing a knee to his chest and resting his elbow on it. He rubbed his eyes.

"Damnitt, why is it that when I cover my eyes with my arm everything is so fuzzy afterward?" he muttered, annoyed.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, it happens to me too," Ino stated, making her presence known. Itachi opened an eye to look at her, but quickly closed it, he hated being unable to see clearly. He sighed heavily, trying to massage away the fuzz. Ino giggled, combing the last knot out of her hair. The girl then kneeled on the ground to Itachi's side and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Lay back, okay? Keep rubbing your eyes like that and they'll get worse," she said softly. She pushed his shoulder a bit and he laid back, continuing to rub his eyes. Ino batted his hand away.

"Didn't I tell you to stop rubbing them?"

"They itch."

"And now they're worse."

"And my head hurts."

"See?"

"Yea," Itachi groaned angrily, the pulsing pains now going through his head aggravating him further.

Ino sighed, combing her fingers through the bangs lying limply on her forehead. The blonde had never been around Itachi when he was mad…

The girl leaned forward and kissed Itachi's temple gently, knowing it wouldn't really help; it made Itachi chuckle.

"Feeling sympathetic?" he asked, giving up on his eyes and re-draping his forearm over them. Ino smiled a bit; maybe he was feeling a little better.

"Anything else I can do?"

Itachi took a moment to think before pointing to the table and saying "take the remote and push Play."

Ino did as she was told and in moments the same song from before was playing. She sat on the floor and rested her head back onto Itachi's torso.

"So, is this your favorite song?" she asked, trying to only concentrate on what the words meant and not how they were being sung.

"I don't have a favorite, it just feels right at the moment," he said, sighing blankly. Ino nodded her head and closed her eyes again.

When the song finished Itachi played it again and Ino found herself bored. It was a good song but it wasn't exactly her style, so she decided to entertain herself.

Ino slowly climbed on top of Itachi, knees on either side of his hips. She leaned down and planted a kiss on his neck.

"What are you doing?" Itachi asked, his voice void of any emotion. Ino kissed just above the juncture of Itachi's neck and shoulder, causing him to shutter just a bit.

"Having fun?" he asked.

She traced her index finger up his jaw line and played with the hair splayed out over the armrest.

"You know, you were right. That shampoo and conditioner you let me use… It's really good…" She kissed just under his ear, "I'll have to get some for myself…" she whispered.

Itachi lifted the arm he'd rested next to his head off of the armrest and twisted his fingers into the long, blonde hair spilling over the girl's shoulder.

"You should, you're hair's already a lot healthier."

"How do you know? You can't even see it."

"I can feel it."

He lifted the hair and slipped it over the back of Ino's arm. He then laid his arm next to his head again, "besides," he added, "what you see isn't always what you get."

"You know…" Ino started, "you're right. When we got together I thought I was getting a sweet, honest boyfriend. But, according to what you said this morning, that's nothing like what I got," she said, her voice steady and somewhat sad. Itachi removed his forearm from his eyes to look at her, but when he did so he simply replaced his arm; his vision was much blurrier then before.

"So, you're dating Gaara or someone? He must be mad that you spend more time with me."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You said when we got together you got a boyfriend."

Ino looked at him sideways, completely confused.

"Yes, YOU," the girl stated impatiently.

"Now, why would you think that?" he asked mockingly.

"Are you serious? After all that stuff we did?" Ino was steadily growing angrier.

"It means nothing but that you like it when I touch you," he stated, clearly amused by now.

"Nothing? So if I asked you to be my boyfriend right now what would you say?"

"I'd say no, obviously."

Ino paused, _what the hell is up with this guy?_

"Why not?"

"Because I don't date. I don't do anything official. I thought that was obvious?"

Ino's mouth moved but no words escaped her. Was he seriously saying this? Ino sat back, arms crossed over her chest. She finally found what she wanted to say.

"You are such an asshole," she climbed off of him and stood up before starting her walk to his room. Itachi removed his forearm and opened his eyes, dealing with his unclear vision to follow Ino into his room. He saw the blonde moving around and picking things up. Everything looked like large blotches so he was reduced to asking.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting my clothes, I'm leaving."

"Why?"

He saw her throw down a large, dark blob and heard it hit the floor.

"Why should I stay? I thought I was important to you… And I find out I'm nothing!"

She picked the blob up again and took something out. His vision cleared up just enough to make out that she'd pulled out a t-shirt. He walked over to her and grabbed her wrist.

"You think you're nothing to me?" he asked. She turned to him.

"Well if you can't make us official, or even stay away from other girls, then I can't mean much!" She attempted to snatch her wrist from his grasp but her attempt failed. She groaned loudly and covered her eyes with her free hand.

"That's nothing; you do mean something to me."

Ino looked up at him, feeling a bit of happiness well up inside of her. "Really?"

"Of course," he stated, stepping closer to her, "you're the hottest toy I've had so far."

Ino made a groan closer to a scream. She violently yanked her wrist from his grip and stormed in a circle around his room, shaking her arms and hands frantically in front of her. "You! You… You! I can't BELIEVE you! You just… You called me a toy!" she turned to him and pointed to herself, "I am not a toy!" She walked up to him and jabbed his chest with her index finger, "I am not YOUR toy! I AM NOT A TOY!" She waved her hands in the air and turned on her heel. Just before she walked away Itachi wrapped his arms around Ino's waist.

"You look so damn sexy when you're pissed," he whispered in her ear, happy his vision had cleared just a bit more. Ino was having trouble forming words again.

"Let go of me," she finally managed to say. Itachi's hold on her tightened and she was pulled flush against him.

"Now why would I do that? I've never seen you so…" the boy kissed the spot on her neck that made a certain place tingle, "fuckable."

Ino stifled a moan; she wasn't going to let the bastard win.

"Get off me," she said sternly, attempting to sound frightening, which only made Itachi chuckle.

"I'm sorry, am I pissing you off even more?"

"Yes!" she yelled, now trying to pry the strong arms off of her. Itachi bit the same sensitive spot on her neck, causing her to yelp.

"Good, this is more fun when you're angry."

All of her prying paid off and Itachi let her go. Sadly he held on to her hips and spun her rapidly. He then tripped her and she landed, face first, on his bed. She turned over and sat down.

"You are SUCH an IDIOT!" she yelled.

Itachi kneeled on the bed, legs around hers, and leaned forward.

"Get away from me!" Ino scooted back until she hit pillows and her anger increased when Itachi crawled over her.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked angrily.

"So mad you can't think straight?"

"I'm not mad… I'm FURIOUS! Get the fuck off!" Itachi smirked. He grabbed her chin and kissed her roughly. Just as he managed to slip his tongue past her lips he pulled back sharply, a bit of blood trickling down the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away and his smirk grew wider.

"Fuck, well aren't we feisty?"

"Get off."

Instead of doing as the blonde girl said he began planting kisses along her jaw and down her neck, causing the girl to shutter and suppress a moan.

"I mean it, get off…!" she writhed and violently shook her head, but it did nothing. She felt his hand creeping up the large black shirt she was wearing and let his fingers tickle her sides on their way to Ino's chest.

"God, don't you listen…" she bit her lip to stifle a moan as Itachi began pinching one of her nipples. He licked her neck and massaged her breasts. She bit her lip harder, unwilling to give in to him.

"Well, I'd love to listen to you moaning my name…" he whispered into her ear, "you definitely have the sexiest voice out of the three…"

"The... Three? WHAT THREE?"

Itachi took this opportunity to surprise her with a kiss. She screamed into it, the anger she'd been forgetting coming back with a vengeance. She pushed him, breaking the kiss.

"I can't BELIEVE you, you asshole!" and she was surprised once more by a hand in her shorts, massaging something he really shouldn't have been touching at the moment. She moaned loudly as he continued.

"Fuck! Stop…!" and he did.

It was over. He'd stopped and she'd won… So why was she so cold all of a sudden?

When she opened her eyes Itachi was pulling up her shirt, eventually snatching it over her head while she was still stunned. The blonde covered her bare chest.

"What do you think you're doing?" Itachi bent down and kissed her abdomen, now working her shorts off. Ino used one hand to try and fight him, the other still covering her breasts.

"Stop it! What are you doing?"

"About to make you feel the best you've ever felt," he stated, easily overpowering Ino and taking the shorts, dropping them on the floor. Ino curled into a ball and threw a fist at Itachi, which he swiftly caught.

"Did you do this to the other girls too?" she asked, the fury clear in her voice. Itachi gave her an intense look.

"No, I didn't." His intensity caused her to soften; she never noticed how deep his eyes were…

"They spread their legs willingly." And with those words the fury came back with a vengeance once more. When Itachi sat up she followed and attempted to punch him in the face again, only to be thwarted again. Itachi began taking off his own shirt and Ino took this opportunity to punch him as hard as she possibly could in his stomach. Once his shirt was off he looked down at the naked girl to find her curled into a ball around her right hand.

"Are you okay?"

"No I'm not you fucking asshole, I punched your fucking stomach!" Itachi looked down at himself and chuckled.

"You should think before you act, you know." Ino looked at the eight pack and silently admitted that he was right before continuing to fight him as he laid back down on her.

"What the fuck are you planning?" she asked angrily. Itachi looked into her eyes.

"You mean you haven't figured it out?" he asked. Then he reached into his pocket and soon pulled something into Ino's vision; a condom. Ino's jaw dropped.

"No… No! I'm not having sex with some son of a BITCH who won't even let us be official!"

"Then how about having sex with a sexy son of a bitch who'll make you scream in ecstasy?"

Ino felt a tingle of excitement from his words, but she tried to ignore it.

"How about no?"

Itachi moved up and sat on Ino's legs. He un-did his pants and released his cock from his boxers.

"Too late." He put the condom on and smirked. He got up and took a firm grip on her ankles, spreading her legs and settling between them. He moved his hand up to her knees and held them on either side of him as he leaned down.

"So, do I have to tie you up or will you cooperate?" he asked, lust and amusement in his voice. Ino huffed angrily.

"You know, this is technically rape."

He kissed the blonde hard, but only for a second before pressing the head of his cock against her entrance.

"It's not rape if you're enjoying it," he plunged all the wayin, evoking a scream from the girl beneath him. He stayed absolutely still, letting her adjust to the feeling; she was, after all, a virgin.

Why was he doing this? It hurt… Why couldn't he have taken it slow? Ino slowed her breathing, willing herself to calm down.

"You ready?"

"Get out of me!"

"That's a yes."

Itachi started to move, slowly at first and easing his way to a moderate pace. After a few thrusts the pain melted away and was replaced by pure pleasure. She felt her legs tense and, unconsciously, wrapped her arms around his neck. She spoke between moans and gasps.

"I… am going… to KILL… you…"

"If you're not passed out after I'm done with you feel free," Itachi joked, his voice breathy.

The blonde's hands raked his back, trying to suppress the sounds of pleasure that escaped her. The girl really didn't know if she should be enjoying this or not. Itachi cheated on her… Apparently more than once. They weren't even together! … Then why did this feel so good? Ino felt the anger well up in her again and she brought her hands to his shoulders, attempting to push him off.

"Get off me! I can't stand you…!"

Her attempt failed as Itachi leaned down and nipped at her neck, "you can't stand me, huh?" he smirked. "Then if I stopped right now you **really** wouldn't mind?"

"Well… of course not! I hate you!"

"You hate me?" he asked and froze. Seconds after he stopped moving the blonde's body began shaking, begging for more. Itachi sat up and ran his hands down Ino's sides and up her thighs, he could feel her quivering around his cock.

"Hmm, you're shaking… Any particular reason for that?" he asked, clearly mocking her. The smirk on his face sparkled in his eyes and Ino nearly cried. Itachi was cruel, dishonest, sarcastic and just so damn infuriating…! And, for some reason, she loved him for it… What was wrong with her?

"Don't stop…" she whispered. Ino covered her eyes with her forearm like Itachi had done before, she didn't care if her vision was blurred later, she just didn't want to look at him… She was embarrassed, to say the least… What was wrong with her?

Itachi's smirk left him. He leaned forward and peeled her arm off from over her eyes. The boy kissed her and started moving again, causing Ino to half scream into the kiss. When they parted Ino was breathing heavily, her vision hazy. Itachi's hands gripped her hips and he thrust harder, it wasn't long before the blonde flew over the edge, thrusting her hands into the head of hair above her and screaming. Her body shook and her eyes rolled back into her head. After a few seconds she blinked away the stars from her vision as her body continued to shake. Itachi kept his quick pace inside Ino until he found his own release. His fingers dug into her hips as he muttered a slew of curses. He pulled out and sat beside her, quietly pulling off the condom and deciding to tie it in a knot. Ino attempted to sit up but failed miserably. Itachi tossed the used condom into the small trash can in the corner of his room and looked down at the blonde to his side, whom had her eyes covered again by her arm.

"Alive?" Itachi asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm not a virgin anymore…" she stated weakly. Itachi laid back on the pillows.

"Regret it then?" he turned his head to see large blue eyes staring into his.

"Not if I can lie here with you for a while?"

Itachi sighed. He sat up and managed to slide the blanket from under them. He pulled it over both their bodies and scooted a bit closer to Ino. He rested his head back on his hands and Ino laid her head on his chest.

"You know… You are such an asshole," the blonde stated. Itachi smirked.

"And yet you're still here with me."

Ino paused for a moment then she closed her eyes, "I guess I just have a thing for assholes."

Itachi's smirk widened a bit. It was amazing how he always got what he wanted.

**_TBC_**

**Author's Notes: Ahh! They did it! Finally, after so many chapters! I hope you enjoyed it! Read and review! And for those of you not in to the rough stuff... I'm sorry, I don't choose the basics of the content, I just follow instructions from the lady in charge! But, I hope you still enjoyed it XD**

**SEE YOU NEXT TIME!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I finally have this chapter edited! With my final exams coming up I've been so busy .**

**Well, here ya go! ENJOY!**

**The Thin Line**

Chapter 6:

Ino was awoken around 9 p.m. by a light weight on her stomach. As she began to open her eyes some of the weight shifted to her chest and she felt something warm and wet on her cheek. Ino looked up to see Jiro licking her face and wagging his tail happily. Ino smiled.

"Hey, Jiro!" she sat up and pulled the blanket over her bare chest. The puppy nestled in her lap.

"Nice wake up call," she stated, scratching the spot behind his ear. The blonde smiled again.

"Finally awake, are we?"

Ino looked to the doorway to find Itachi leaning on the frame, shirt off and black jeans sagging. Ino sighed sadly, unsure of how to feel at the moment.

"Yea," she stated simply, then went back to petting Jiro. The puppy rolled over onto his back and Ino scratched his belly. Itachi wondered over to where Ino sat on the bed and sat next to her, petting Jiro's head.

"How do you feel?" he asked the blonde, whom shrugged a bit.

"I don't know… weird?" she bushed a bit, "I still can't believe you did that to me…"

"It takes two, you know."

"But I didn't want to… I really didn't…"

Itachi leaned down and nipped at Ino's neck, "who are you trying to convince? Me? Or you?" he closed his eyes a bit and smirked, he could already sense Ino's discomfort with the question.

"You, duh… I think…" Ino sighed deeply, the blush on her cheeks darkening significantly. She fought him, didn't she? She told him to stop and she meant it! … Right? Ino brought her hands to her face and fell into them. Why was the morning after so confusing? Wait... Morning after…?

"Oh shit!" Ino nearly screamed, eyes wide.

"Huh?" Itachi asked, now engrossed in the act of petting Jiro. Ino lifted Jiro from her lap and placed him in Itachi's arms.

"I told my parents I'd be back yesterday, they must but worried sick!" she yelled, jumping out of the bed and searching for her clothes. Itachi chuckled a bit and stared at the frantic girl.

"Oh my-!" Ino remembered she was still naked. She pulled some of the blanket from the bed to cover herself, her face managing to darken further.

"Where are my clothes?" she asked, her eyes still wide. Itachi stood up and gently placed Jiro on the ground. He walked to the corner, picked up Ino's back pack and tossed it to her. The girl caught it awkwardly and fished her extra clothes out of it. She stared at Itachi.

"Yes?" he asked, matching Ino's gaze.

"Umm… could you leave?"

"It's my room."

"I want to change!"

Itachi put his hands up defensively, eyebrows arching up a bit and his eyes closing. He backed up out of the room and kicked the door closed.

Ino hurriedly changed into her spare clothes and stuffed her dirty clothes she'd found on top of Itachi's clothes hamper into her bag. She picked up her shoes and exited the room quickly, stopping in the doorway to slide into her sneakers.

"God, my parents are going to kill me!" she yelled putting her backpack on.

"Why?" Itachi asked, he was relaxing next to Jiro on the couch.

"Because I was supposed to be home yesterday."

"What do you mean?" he asked confusedly, "it's only 9:15."

"9:15...?"

"Yea. It's still Saturday, so stop freaking."

"Oh… Well, I'm still going home," the blonde stated. She quickly combed through her hair with her fingers. "See ya."

"Hold on," Itachi pulled on a short sleeve, black shirt and buttoned it up, leaving the top couple of buttons undone. He slipped his feet into his back and white converse and grabbed the black sunglasses from the kitchen bar.

"Let's go."

"No, it's okay… I'll walk." Ino left through the front door and headed down the hallway. Itachi looked outside, it was dark and raining; _doesn't she remember what happened the last time she walked home in these conditions?_

He grabbed his jacket, knowing full well that the t-shirt she had on wouldn't do much for keeping her dry. He locked the door and headed down the other end of the hallway, it lead to a shortcut to his bike. He hopped on it, holding the jacket close to him to keep it dry, and found Ino walking in front of the aparement building. The girl stopped, thinking of the quickest way to the subway station when Itachi pulled up in front of her. He sat up straight on his bike and tossed her the jacket.

"You'll catch a cold like that."

Ino looked at him for a second then put it on.

"Thanks. Now, which way to the subway?" she asked, looking up and down the street. Itachi rolled his eyes.

"Get on, I'll take you home."

"No, I'll get home myself."

"How? You have no idea where you're going."

"Point me to the subway, I've become a wiz with the station's map."

Itachi rolled his eyes again, irritated. "Just get your ass on the bike."

"I told you, I'll get home myself-"

Ino's phone began vibrating in her pocket and she flinched. She took her cell out and shielded it from the rain with Itachi's jacket, the caller ID read 'Dad'. She sighed heavily and answered it.

"Hi, Dad."

"_**Hey, Ino, where are you? Your mom's starting to get worried."**_

"I'm sorry, I fell asleep at my friend's house. Tell her I'm on my way, all right?"

"_**Okay, just hurry up… Seriously, you know how frantic your mother gets."**_

"_Is that Ino? Ino, don't catch a cold! I'll run your bath! Your dinner's getting cold! Ino!"_

"_**Did you hear her?"**_

"Yea," Ino chuckled, "tell Mommy I love her. I'll be home soon."

"_**Okay, be quick about it, she seems to be getting worse."**_

Ino chuckled again, her mother was a bit much but it was nice to know someone always cared, "yea… I'll be there soon…" she looked at Itachi and sighed, "my friend's giving me a ride."

"_**Good, I'll see you soon?"**_

"Yea, bye Dad."

"_**Bye."**_

The blonde hung up and turned to Itachi, who opened the seat of the bike to reveal a sleek helmet. He tossed it to the girl and she put it on.

"I'm going with you for my Mom, okay?"

"Yea."

She climbed onto the back of his bike and held his waist. Itachi started the bike and they began their short ride home.

It took about ten minutes of Itachi's quick, and rather reckless, driving to get to Ino's house. He parked in his usual spot under the light and Ino got off. She gave him the helmet and started walking to her walkway when Itachi stopped her. He grabbed her wrist and jerked her in his direction, pulling her inches from his body.

"Why so cold all of a sudden?"

Why should I be warm…?" she asked, looking down.

"Have I done something wrong?"

"You raped me!"

"It's not rape if you enjoyed it."

"Who said I enjoyed it?" she asked, blushing a bit and growing angry. Itachi closed the distance between them and nipped at her ear.

"Your body spoke for you," he whispered, the hot breath on her ear causing her to shiver a bit. She closed her eyes.

"Why do you do this to me?" she asked before standing on her toes and kissing him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Itachi smirked into the kiss and pulled her closer. They kissed for a long minute before Ino pulled away from him and crossed her arms over her chest, biting her lip.

"I hate you."

"There's quite a thin line between love and hate."

Ino looked him up and down, "you don't say…" She turned around and walked to the beginning of her yard then turned back to him. Itachi was leaning on his bike now, looking at her. When he slid a leg over it the blonde yelled to him.

"Itachi!" He looked at her, lifting a leg from the ground and onto the side of the bike. "See you at school Monday?"

Itachi smirked and put his foot on the gas, revving it up, "yea."

He rode off and Ino watched him until his tail light disappeared into the darkness. She smiled and walked down to her house. She opened the door and stepped inside, slipping out of Itachi's waterproof jacket and shaking the remaining rain drops off of it. By the time she closed the door her mother and father were standing in front of her.

"Ino! You're home! Oh, dear, you're soaking wet! Your bath is running, all right? I'll start re-heating your dinner! I'm so happy you're home, sweet heart!" and her mother scurried off like she usually did. Ino smiled, her mother was so adorable.

"Hey, Dad," she said to the tall, blonde man leaning on the wall. The man gave her a small grin.

"Hey. How was your-"

"I nearly forgot! Ino, start drying off some with this towel so you won't make puddles on the floor on your way to your bathroom!" her mother handed her a large, purple towel and scurried off again. Her father chuckled.

"How was your day?" he asked. Ino smiled.

"They played a prank on me, got us lost and pushed me off a cliff. It was lots of fun," she draped the jacket on the coat rack and dried some of her hair with the towel her mother had given her.

"Well… what matters is that you're still alive and not missing anything… are you?"

_My virginity_, "unless you're counting a couple broken nails then I'm fully intact."

"I was thinking more like a big toe or something, but eh."

He shrugged and so did Ino.

"Ino, your bath's ready!" her mother yelled. Ino pulled off her shoes and socks and walked past her father.

"See you in a while, Old Man."

"All right, brat."

They both chuckled a bit before going their separate ways.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

The next day Ino had to drag herself to school. Everything that happened during the weekend was still fresh in her groggy mind and had kept her up most of the night. She lost her virginity to a guy that wouldn't even claim her as his girlfriend… What kind of bull shit was that? She managed to make it to her homeroom on time and she immediately fell asleep at her desk. Because it was Monday there wasn't really much to do so she managed to mostly sleep until lunch time, which she was usually excited for. However, today as she went through her routine of getting her lunch and being dragged up the stairs by a bouncy, pink-haired girl she wished that the time would go by quickly.

That Monday the group sat in their usual spot on the roof of the school. Ino rested her head on Hinata's shoulder and ate slowly. She would have just slept but her stomach was growling angrily at her for not feeding it breakfast. She watched the door until the moment came; it finally opened to reveal Sasori, Deidara, Kisame, Hidan and… Where was Itachi?

"Is that guy skipping school again?" Ino mumbled tiredly.

"Huh?" Hinata looked down at her friend then back up. "Oh, you mean Itachi? I don't know. It's a real mystery where he goes."

"It's even more of a mystery how he manages to miss over 100 of 243 days of school a year and stays at the top of his class all the time," Sakura stated.

"What are you, a walking Itachi wiki?"

"Shut UP, Kiba!"

"Isn't that similar to stalking?" Neji added, snickering at the evil look Sakura gave him. Ino giggled a bit, it was kind of mean but still funny how everyone picked on the pink-haired teen. She sighed deeply and closed her eyes, wondering where Itachi had gone for the day.

The rest of the week continued like that. The blonde slept late, woke up tired, slept in school and Itachi never showed up. By the next Monday Ino had re-gained her bearings and was back to normal, however the object of her previous confusion was still missing. That day Ino decided to break out of her group and visit the boys; Hidan, Sasori, Diedara and Kisame.

"Hey, you guys." The boys looked up at her and all smiled.

"Hey, Ino. What's up?" Diedara said, stealing a small sandwich from Sasori's bento. Ino bent down some, propping herself up with her hands on her knees.

"Where's Itachi? He missed a week of school," Ino asked, somewhat embarrassed when she realized that she was actually worried about him.

"Haven't you called him?" Hidan asked innocently. Ino never thought about that…. Then she realized something that upset her a bit.

"He never gave me his number…"

"Oh!" the white-haired teen's eyes widened a bit then he scratched the back of his head, smiling sympathetically, "sorry."

"It's not your fault… So what happened to him?"

"They put him in the hospital last Monday," Kisame stated.

"What?" Ino's eyes widened dramatically, "why?"

"He kick boxes and he had a match on Monday. Well, I guess he-"

"He was having fun?" Ino asked.

"Yea…" Kisame replied. Ino remembered from the first time she visited Itachi's apartment. He said he'd broken a rib because he and his opponent started having some "fun". "So, what happened this time?" the blonde asked. Sasori chuckled.

"Four broken ribs, sprained wrist, minor concussion."

"Are you serious?"

"He was really enjoying himself," the red-head chuckled and drank some of the water from his water bottle.

"That guy beat him pretty hard… Is he okay?"

"Of course he's okay, he won."

"Are you serious?" Ino could tell that Itachi wasn't easy to beat but he really sounded like he lost. "Then what happened to the other guy?"

"Six broken ribs, broken nose, fractured skull," Sasori took another sip of his water, smirking.

"It was one hell of a fight! Even his coach couldn't stop him!" Deidara said proudly, punching the air to add emphasis to his words.

"I don't understand how that's fun…" Ino mumbled, slightly rolling her eyes. Kisame chuckled.

"I didn't either. I met him back in middle school; he used to start random brawls after school near my neighborhood when I first moved here. He just likes it when someone's actually good enough to give him some pain… He likes a challenge." Kisame took a rice ball from Sasori's bento and bit it.

Sasori scowled at the swimmer, "why is it you bastards keep stealing from MY lunch?" he asked, closing the bento box in an attempt to salvage the rest for himself. Hidan smirked at him. "'Cause you're the only one that BRINGS lunch."

"Well, bring your own God damn lunch," he said, flicking the other teen in the forehead. Ino chuckled a bit, they were such a bunch of misfits.

"Thanks, you guys. I'll go finish my lunch… Talk to you later."

"Don't you want Itachi's number?" Ino looked back at Kisame who was looking at her, cell phone in hand. The blonde girl shook her head.

"No… But thanks, Kisame… I'll be okay without it."

**_TBC_**

**Author's Notes: Yay, chapter 6! This should be longer than my last story! Sorry it's been taking me so long to update, I've been more busy in the last 2 and a half weeks than in my entire school year -_-' I'll see when I can edit the next chapter! I have 7 and 8 written and just completed chapter 9! I'm writing again! After I start chapter 10 I'll edit chapter 7 for you guys! I don't know when this story will end XD**

**SEE YOU NEXT TIME! =D**


	7. Chapter 7

_**HOLY SHIT! It's been forever, I'm sorry! ENJOY!**_

**The Thin Line**

**Chapter 7:**

Another week passed by and there had been no sign of Itachi at school. He'd managed to get over broken ribs in just a few days before… did something happen to him? Ino was getting worried about him, whether or not she wanted to admit it. She decided that Friday to see if she could visit him. Since it'd been two weeks she was pretty sure he was at least back home, so after school Ino changed from her school uniform into a plaid, bright red, pleated mini-skirt, a black and white striped, loose, long sleeve shirt, a pair of white thigh highs and black sneakers. She combed her hair into two low pigtails and messed with her bangs a bit.

"Wow, I might have to cut these soon, they're getting long…" she ran her fingers through the blonde hair that were now completely covering her eyebrows. She shook them a bit and got the small bento that her mother had packed for her lunch. Since she didn't eat at school if she got to hang out with Itachi today she'd probably eat it then. She packed everything into a small, blue backpack and put it on. She ran to the door.

"Hey, Mom, I'm gonna go visit my friend now!"

"Wait!" Just before Ino could make her exit her mother scurried to the door behind her and handed her a small, black bento, "this is for your friend. Injuries make you hungry!" her mother gave her a warm smile and Ino returned it.

"Thanks Mom, I'm sure he'll appreciate it!" the blonde ran out the door and up the walkway while her father, who'd been eavesdropping, yelled "what do you mean _he_?"

Ino giggled as she walked down to the train station, taking the backpack off to place the bento her mother had given her in the bag. She took out a green pass her mother had gotten her for her train trips and put the backpack back on. As she walked slowly to the station she tried to decipher the route to Itachi's apartment; yes, she'd been there a couple of times, but only on his bike. It's hard to know exactly where you're going when you looking at the road through a pitch black helmet going 90 miles an hour. By the time she'd gotten to the subway she'd figured out where she might be going and decided to give it a try.

She bought her ticket and got on the train when it pulled up. It was a bit crowded, but it made sense; five o'clock was always a rush hour. Ino stood near a window and watched the scenery as everything slowly sped up. This ride was going to be about fifteen minutes so she hoped that no one else would be getting on. About five minutes in, however, it seemed her luck had run out. The train came to a stop and the car filled up with even more people. By the time they were moving again Ino was near squished to the window and had a business man on either side of her. She sighed heavily, business men always freaked her out… They just looked weird.

A few more minutes into the ride the train lurched a bit and Ino fell a bit to her left. She then felt something touch her backside and she stopped. Maybe it was an accident? She waited for the touch to disappear, but, instead, it started to move up and down, rubbing her ass gently. The blonde's face flushed to the color of her skirt, _damn perverted business men!_ She slammed her eyes shut and managed to turn around sharply, feeling the back of her right hand connect to a face. When she re-opened her eyes she saw a white-haired young man with a slightly amused expression on his face and a reddening cheek.

"Wait… Hidan?"

"Wait, Ino?"

"Who else could it be?"

"Great!" Hidan cupped his bruised face, "why'd you have to slap me?"

"Some guy was feeling my butt on a train, it's kind of a reflex!" Ino said, slightly irritated. Hidan huffed and leaned against the window, still holding his face.

"Gimme a break, I thought you were Yuiko!"

"Who's that?"

"A girl I'm seeing. Anyway, where ya going?" he rubbed his cheek a few more times before letting his hands drop into his pockets.

"No where… important," Ino shifted a bit; she didn't want him to know she was going to visit Itachi. "So, how about you?"

"Saiyoko's house."

"Is she your sister or your cousin or something?"

"If she is then I'm going straight to hell." Ino's eyes widened a bit.

"What about Yuiko?"

"What ABOUT Yuiko?

The train came to a stop and Hidan stood up straight, "and this is where I get off. See ya, Ino!"

"Stay safe!" Ino recently had this thing for telling people that, since everyone in the world seemed to be getting into accidents these days.

"I will!" Hidan reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, shiny yellow square with a circle indented into it. Ino slapped her forehead.

"I wasn't referring to that!" The doors closed and the car was nearly half empty by the time it started moving again so Ino sat down for the last few minutes of the ride.

When the doors opened again Ino hurriedly got out of the train car and walked out of the station. It took nearly 25 twists, turns and moments of retracing her steps before she got to an apartment building that she was sure was Itachi's. Well… half sure. Okay, maybe a little less than half. She walked up the stairs on the side of the building, if she remembered right Itachi was in room 408. She got up to the fourth floor and walked down the hallway until she got to door 408.

Ino stood at the door for a minute and took deep breathes; she hadn't seen Itachi for two weeks, she was kind of nervous… That and the thought that some girl would open the door when she knocked constantly nagged at the back of her brain. But she had to see him, so she knocked on the door a few times. After about half a minute a woman opened the door, she had medium length, brown hair in large curls and stood an inch or two taller than Ino; she was wearing a small, pink silk robe.

"Umm, yes?" she asked.

"Is… Itachi there?" the blonde asked, her voice shaking. Was this the other girl?

"Umm, I'm sorry, Itachi who?" A bit of relief washed over Ino; thank God this isn't the girl Itachi was messing around with!

"Umm, Itachi Uchiha? Tall, tan, long black hair?"

"Oh, you mean that sexy beast that lives in 206? His name's Itachi? Nice to know…" the woman showed a bit of a lustful glint in her eye that made Ino uneasy.

"Umm, never mind, I'll be leaving now!"

"Wait! Are you his girlfriend or something?" she asked, leaning on the door frame. Ino paused.

"Yes. Yes I am."

Ino quickly left before the woman could ask her anymore questions. She dove down two floors and up the second floor hallway, "how did I confuse 206 with 408?" she asked herself. When she got to the door she took a few more deep breaths. After a loud sigh she knocked lightly on the door, which scooted quietly open. It was unlocked… Was this really Itachi's apartment? She looked inside to find dark walls and familiar furniture; yea, this was it. She stepped inside and closed the door. The blonde crept in to find Itachi sitting on his couch with a laptop on his coffee table. She could see that his knees were up and his arms were bent over him. There were strange sounds coming from his laptop.

"Yea, keep doing that," Itachi said in a deep, smooth voice. The sound made Ino shiver; she hadn't heard him in two weeks, after all.

"Oh my God, yes! Itachi…"

"Ah! Yes! That feels so good…"

"What in the world?" Ino near yelled, now directly behind Itachi. "Are you… watching… porn…?" Ino asker, her face quickly darkening. On the laptop were two girls, one with ear length red hair and the girl on top of her other with very long black hair, on top of each other using a bent, double ended dildo.

Itachi looked up at the blonde, his face as emotionless as the day she met him. "Of course not."

"Itachi, who's that?"

"Yea, who's the blonde?"

The two girls on the laptop now had their faces in the camera; the red-head's brown eyes stared at Ino while the raven-haired girl's pink eyes were still on Itachi.

"Well?" the pink-eyed one asked again, "who is she?"

"Wait, how do the porn movie people know I'm here?"" Ino asked, her face darkening further. Itachi smirked.

"I told you, I don't watch porn."

"Itachi, how come the blonde gets to go to your house but I can't?" the red-headed whined, wiping away faux tears.

"How do the porn movie people know your name?"

"What did I just say?"

"Stop ignoring us!" the two girls complained in unison.

"Itachi, how do the porn movie people know what's going on?"

"WHAT DID I JUST SAY?"

Itachi bent his head down and rubbed his eyes.

"Itachi, what's going on?" Ino asked.

"Yea! Tell us!" the pink-eyed girl agreed. Itachi sighed heavily.

"Yea, I'm your girlfriend, I deserve to know!" the red-head yelled.

"I don't claim girlfriends, you know that, Kisa."

"Shut up, you idiot! I'M his girlfriend!"

"Imari, what did I just say?"

"But after all that happened I thought I'd be your girlfriend…" Ino stated softly.

"WHAT did I just say?"

"You're both dumb asses, I'M his girlfriend!"

"Imari, WHAT DID I JUST SAY?"

"Shut up, bitch, Itachi's MY boyfriend!"

"I'm pretty sure he's mine," Ino commented again.

"Why aren't you women fucking listening to me today?" Itachi nearly yelled, the argument causing his head to throb. These girls were being too damn stubborn…

"But I thought after all of that messing around we've been doing he was mine!" the pink-eyed girl, Imari, yelled.

"Are you kidding me? We've been fucking for WAY longer!" the red-head, Kisa, countered.

"You mean these are the girls Kisame and the boys were talking about?" Ino asked. Everyone looked at her. "Well, are they?" Itachi sighed; this was getting annoying. _I thought he said there were only three?_

"Well, if you must know the truth, we're missing a few…"

"How many are a few?"

"Yumi, Hikari and Rika! They were here a bit ago but they all have cram school." Ino's jaw dropped, there were five of them? The blonde felt her heart breaking.

"Wow, you really are the hottest girl Itachi's been with. What's your cup size?"

Ino stared at Kisa; the red-head was weird. She looked down at her chest, her face darkening.

"She's a C. Anything smaller would be impossible," Itachi said, smirking up at the girl. Her face flushed darker.

"Aww, you have the biggest boobs of the bunch, lucky bitch!" Kisa yelled, cupping her small breasts, she sighed heavily. "How'd you get yours so big?" she asked. Itachi closed his eyes and placed his hand on his forehead, _why am I fucking her again?_

"But you're probably the tightest," Imari cut in. _Oh, now I remember._

"Itachi, have you really had sex with both of them?"

"He's had sex with all five of us! We went on webcam to convince him to come over and have some fun but he won't!" Imari complained, poking her bottom lip out sadly.

"Imari, I told you I'm on house arrest."

"What? Are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious," Itachi lifted his left foot and pulled up the leg of his cargo pants. Adorned his ankle was a black watch-like anklet with a small, green screen on it. After the girls got a good look he replaced his foot on the couch.

"Wow, what did you do?" Ino asked. Itachi chuckled a bit.

"Had another match on Tuesday and it got… a LITTLE out of hand."

"What do you mean 'out of hand'?" Kisa asked. A faint smirk graced Itachi's lips.

"The guy was an idiot so I started having some… 'fun' and I guess I went a bit overboard?"

"So, what, you guys started playing checkers or something?" the red-head asked dumbly. Imari rolled her eyes.

"So Itachi, what happened?"

"Oh my God, is he okay?" Ino asked frantically, she was the only one who knew Itachi's definition of "fun".

"Well, I'm on house arrest so what do YOU think?"

"Did you kill him?"

"I'm on HOUSE arrest, not in prison. I just… Broke all of his ribs and his nose and his wrist and one of his legs, no big deal."

"Why'd you do that?"

"I have my reasons-"

"Itachi!" Kisa interrupted- she was lying on her back. "Itachi I'm still hot…"

"That's really what you're thinking about?" Imari asked, annoyed. Kisa stuck her tongue out at the girl before turning back to look at Itachi.

"Baby, help me."

"Don't call him baby!"

"Ok, I will," Itachi grabbed the front of Ino's shirt and pulled her down for a rough kiss. The blonde yelped in surprise and gasped into his mouth, giving his tongue a chance to explore it. As his hand slid to hold the back of the blonde's head she instantly lost the will to fight, she really loved kissing him…

Then Itachi broke the kiss. He got onto his knees on the couch and turned around. After pulling Ino into another hard kiss he pulled her over the back of the couch causing her to yelp again. He managed to lay her on top of him and wrapped a leg around hers, making her unable to escape. After the kiss was broken again Ino pulled her face as far from his as she could get it.

"I'm not doing this with you!"

"Why not?" he asked, his voice deep and smooth. He smirked as he slowly slid his fingers into the hair in the back of Ino's head. "You came here because you missed me, right?" Before the girl could answer he kissed the sensitive spot on her neck, caressing the skin with his tongue. It had felt like ages since she and Itachi did this, Ino could barely breathe. Itachi somehow managed to flip them over, resting comfortably on top of her. He kneeled between the blonde's thighs and brought her legs up, "you know how I feel about shoes on my couch," he slid the sneakers off her feet and dropped them on the floor. After her shoes were out of the way he slowly slid his hands up her legs, he loved when she wore thigh highs.

Itachi laid back down on her and continued to suck her neck, sliding a hand up her shirt to lightly squeeze her breasts. He thoroughly enjoyed the sounds he was evoking from the blonde girl, they were always so hot.

Ino gasped a bit, she couldn't tell if she was enjoying this or hating it. Itachi glided his hand over the side of Ino's leg to grasp the back of her knee and pull it up some to make it easier for him to press against her. When the blonde felt Itachi's hardening length through her panties she jumped a bit.

"Whoa, where's this going?" she asked, panting slightly.

"Where do you _think_ this is going?" He mumbled into the juncture of her neck and shoulder.

"I don't know… Maybe we could… go get some ice cream or something?"

Itachi looked at her with an expression that said _you're fucking kidding, right?_ He then leaned in and kissed her roughly. When he pulled back he chuckled mockingly.

"If I leave the premises I get arrested and sent to juvey."

"Don't you mean jail?"

"Nope, too young."

"But wasn't the jail age lowered to 18?"

"It's still twenty. Besides, I'd still be too young."

"Really?"

"I don't turn 18 until January."

"You're only 17? Aww!"

"Shut up, will you?" Itachi reached a hand under Ino's skirt and harshly pressed his middle finger in a place it shouldn't be, causing the girl to gasp. He kissed her again and continued rubbing, hearing the small whimpers that escaped her. After a few more rubs Itachi's finger left its spot o travel further up. He leaned back and, using both hands, slowly pulled off the girl panties. Ino bit her lip and closed her eyes-she felt like this was her first time! Her mind flashed back to the last time she saw Itachi a couple of weeks before and she pushed him off.

"No way, I'm not doing this! Not again…" Ino pulled her legs up closer to her and glared at Itachi, who smirked. Ino felt a bit of heat rise in her cheeks at his expression-why was his smirk so damned sexy right now?

Itachi crawled closer to her and leaned in to her ear, "but you enjoyed it so much last time." He nipped at her ear and slid a hand across her abdomen, getting a firm grip around her waist.

"No I didn't-"

"Yes. You did." He pulled her closer to him and kissed just below her ear. "You loved it so much…"

"I fought you and you raped me!"

This time he bit and sucked roughly at the sensitive spot on Ino's neck, causing her to gasp and whimper. "Just thinking about the way you screamed gets me hot… You know you want me to fuck you again…" Itachi pulled the blonde onto his lap and reached between her legs, slipping a finger into her wet, hot entrance. Ino breathed heavily, her eyes rolling back into her head. The young man spread her legs over his and continued to suck on her neck, adding another finger and moving his hand faster. The blonde reached back and grabbed Itachi's hair, pulling it and moaning loudly.

"Oh my God…" she spoke between breaths, her eyes closed. He gave her neck one last lick before opening his own eyes to admire the nice, reddish purple mark he'd made.

"How about we turn up the heat a little?" He placed Ino's feet on the couch on either side of him and had her lift herself up just enough to release his cock from his black cargo pants. He reached into his lower pants pocket and pulled out a condom. When the blonde heard him rip the packet open she turned around.

"Were you planning this?" she asked, still breathless. Itachi put the condom on.

"Well I was planning on fucking SOMEBODY."

"What?"

Itachi quickly grabbed Ino's hips and pulled her down on his cock. The sudden feeling evoked a scream from the blonde, she threw her head back and grabbed Itachi's shirt. "Oh my God!"

Itachi roughly jerked her up and down and Ino bit her lip in the hopes that it would keep her from screaming; it didn't help.

"Fuck, you're tight, aren't you? Well this is only your second time," he stopped abruptly to whisper in her ear; "unless you've been fucking behind my back?" then he began his quick pace again.

"Mm, I'm not… Ah! I haven't been… _Fucking _anyone…" she bit her lip harder. There were sounds escaping her that she hadn't been aware she could make.

Eventually her body started to shift and she felt herself topple over. Her face hit the couch and, before she knew it, Itachi was on his knees behind her, his cock still buried to the hilt. For a moment he didn't move and he leaned down.

"Enjoying yourself more than last time?" he moved his hand up her thigh and over the arch of her back before beginning a slow pace, the other hand on her hip. Through the panting and moans, the sound of skin slapping skin could be heard, along with a strange, increasing noise in the background. From the forgotten laptop a strange beat started to play before the sound of pop music accompanied it. A few seconds later a voice was heard.

"**So hot out the box, can we pick up the pace? Turn it up, heat it up, I need to be entertained…**"

"Huh?" Itachi looked at the laptop, never slowing his pace. He saw Imari and Kisa re-working the dildo like they'd done before. He chuckled a bit. The girls were having fun and so was he so, eh, what the hell!

He wrapped an arm around Ino's waist and brought her up onto her elbows, the girl's attempts to suppress her sounds of pleasure were failing miserably and they brought a smirk to Itachi's face. He leaned down to her ear again-whispering dirty things to the blonde seemed to bother her greatly.

"Doesn't it feel good?" he asked, nipping at the shell of her ear. "You always looked like you loved a thick cock shoved between your legs-"

"Stop it!" Ino was biting her finger now, her eyes shut tightly. "Please… I can't… Oh, God! I can't take it anymore! Please…" She couldn't even tell if she was breathing. Her body felt hot and she could barely think straight. Her thoughts were scattered by the constant shocks of pleasure running up her spine.

"**No escaping when I start. Once I'm in I own your heart. There's no way you'll ring the alarm so hold on until it's over!"**

Eventually Ino wasn't sure of anything anymore. She'd somehow ended up on her back with Itachi kneeling over her. He had one hand under her knee and the other on her waist and was brutally pounding the blonde to the point of screaming. She'd given up on concealing the sounds she made when she realized she'd need a band-aid for the finger she'd bitten.

Both Ino and Itachi were breathing heavily. The laptop seemed to have gone through a playlist of songs and was now replaying the first song. However the words were only barely audible amongst the sounds that the couple on the couch and the couple on the other side of the laptop were making.

"**I told ya I'mma hold ya down until you're amazed. Give it to you 'till you're screamin' my name**."

Itachi wrapped his arms around Ino's waist and brought her up flush against his body.

"Fuck, I can't take this anymore…" He put his hands back on Ino's hips and jerked her up and down a few more times. He felt Ino tense around him, she wrapped her arms around his neck, threw her head back and screamed, the blood in her veins morphing into electricity as she came. Itachi soon followed her over the edge, thrusting harshly upwards a few more times. He groaned a slew of curses and waited for his body to loosen up. When it did he laid Ino back down on the couch and pulled out of her. He sat down and took off the condom, _that felt better than last time._

"Fuck…" Ino muttered.

"Wow, you just came hard as hell and you already want more?" Itachi smirked when the blonde girl hid the blush on her face behind her arm.

"That's not it!" she retaliated.

"That was fucking HOT!" said a squealing voice from the laptop.

Itachi and Ino looked at the screen to see a sweating Kisa and a panting Imari staring at the camera.

"Oh my God, were they watching?" the blonde asked, her face darkening further.

"What do you think, tuts?" Imari stated, rolling her eyes a bit.

"Damn, we have to do this again sometime!"

"Kisa, why were you playing music?" Itachi asked, zipping up his pants.

"Huh? Oh, that," Kisa started. "Wasn't it awesome? I love Adam Lambert! Hottest gay American guy I've ever seen!"

"**Why** did you play it, Kisa?"

"'Cause hearing music while you fuck is just plain hot!"

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Another week later Itachi was back in school, his anklet removed. He went through his classes his first day back and endured everyone asking him about his three week absence. At the end of the day he noticed to things: his ability to not tell someone the truth when they ask for it **without** lying was **incredible** and… Ino seemed to be missing.

_**TBC**_

**Author's Notes: OMG it's been forever! I apologize for the laaate update, I was on vacation in the Caribbean for some weeks and back to school stuff and school and job apps and SAT prep, so BUSY! Anywho, I have two more chapters I'll try to edit either tomorrow or next weekend since school's starting again, I hope you enjoy, thank you for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**The Thin Line**

**Chapter 8:**

A week went by, and then another week and the lack of Ino's presence was starting to get to Itachi. It was strange not seeing the blonde across the rooftop, leaning on her dark-haired friend and stealing a glance at him every once in a while.

He started his third week back at school and, during lunch, still headed to the roof top with his friends. He'd gotten used to glancing over and the other group of students and today was different from no other. The group was still lacking Ino. He shrugged internally and took his place leaning on the wall.

"All right, you got my lunch?" Hidan asked.

Sasori scowled at the white haired boy and shoved a dark green bento into his chest.

"Don't be mad 'cause I can fuck who I want!" the teen said, triumphantly. The red-head rolled his eyes.

"Poor Naomi, I shouldn't have bet her, I hope she didn't catch something."

"You're just mad 'cause you had to make me lunch!"

"You shouldn't have made such a terrible bet, Sasori! I mean, come on! Betting Hidan couldn't get Naomi in bed?" Deidara asked, starting to laugh.

"I thought she had more pride then that," Sasori stated, taking out a black bento box for himself. He opened it up and took out a small rice ball, "or at least could keep her damn legs closed…" he took an angry bite out of it.

Itachi chuckled a bit, he was listening to music but had one head phone lying on his chest so he could hear his friends argue. The young man had felt quite relaxed lately, maybe it was because all of his recent kick-boxing matches have been draining him. He closed his eyes and just as the song he was listening to ended the door to the roof opened. Everyone occupying the level looked to see who had entered and Itachi's eyes widened a bit.

It was Ino! Her look had changed quite a bit. Her hair had gotten longer and the color had changed quite a bit. It was a light dirty blonde with dark blue streaks; her bangs had gotten a bit longer as well, but not enough to cover her eyes. Her usual high heels were replaced by two inch, black boots and her aura had paled out some. She seemed a little more relaxed as she went to sit next to Hinata.

"Oh my God, Ino! Where have you been? And what is UP with your hair? It's so weird!" Sakura near yelled. Ino stroked her fingers through her loose hair gently, looking at it. "But, I don't think it's weird…"

"Don't worry, Sakura's a bitch. You hair is bad ass!" Kiba stated.

Ino smiled, a small, cute blush coming into her cheeks.

"So, where have you been? I've missed you," Hinata said, letting her blond-ish friend lean on her shoulder.

"Mmm, I was on vacation… How's school been?"

"Boring as hell. Hey, you know we've started tennis in Gym class, right?" Ten-ten asked, wanting to be a part of the conversation.

"Huh? Oh cool. Well, have fun; I'm not coming to Gym class."

"Why, are you hurt or something?" the brunette asked, curious. Ino shook her head.

"I switched out to Art class. It's a lot more fun than gym…"

"Oh really? That's-"

RING!

"… What was that?" Ino asked, surprised by the loud noise. Neji rolled his eyes and began gathering his things.

"That, my friend, is the new bell system. They don't trust us to keep an eye on our watches anymore." Ino shrugged and stood up; maybe it was for the best? She stood up and stretched a bit, she'd recently been having trouble staying still for too long. As they all headed towards the door she was the last of her group threw it, bumping into Kisame. The spiky haired teen looked at her and smiled.

"Ino, you're back! Where've you been?"

"Oh… Hi, Kisame," she gave him a small smile. "I'm sorry I've been missing school. I went on vacation, that's all… How have you been?"

"Umm… I've been good. Had a good vacation?"

"Yea, I did." She gave him another smile, a faint blush crossing her cheeks. "I'm sorry, I really have to get to art class now, I don't want to be late on my first day! Have a good day, all right?"

"All right!" Kisame waved to her as she quickly went down the steps and rounded a corner. Itachi came up behind him.

"Was that Ino?"

"Yea…"

"… Something wrong? Itachi asked, raising an eyebrow. Itachi pointed a finger in the direction the blonde headed, "she's so… Mello."

"Mello?"

"Well… Yea. It's weird, really."

"What, ya talk to Ino?" Deidara interrupted, bounding over to where his two friends. Itachi pointed to Kisame.

"He did."

"Oh, so how is she, Kisame?"

"Very… Mello."

"Mello?"

"Mello."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The next morning Ino headed to school. It was late November and getting cold. She bought her new uniform and now, instead of a navy skirt, it was a blue, black and white plaid. There was also a matching, thin navy blue blazer with the school's crest on it. She wore a knee length, black coat over it and walked to school. It was pretty cloudy that morning but she was really enjoying it. The temperature was low but comfortable and the slight silence and swift breeze relaxed her. She had a new back pack today, she needed a bigger one to support her art supplies; she'd bought a fresh supply of paint and oil pastels.

On her way to school she looked at the sky, the clouds reminded her of her vacation to Yakushima. Her parents took her there because they thought she was too stressed, and she was... School was killing her, not to mention Itachi…

It was so cloudy when she went, complete overcast all two weeks… It was beautiful. She'd never realized how relaxing nature was… And that's when she got into art. Her parents took her to a few museums; the way some people use color can be so enchanting. It drew her in quickly and never let her go. She placed a hand on her back pack, which looked more like a laptop bag then a back pack. It was a pale purple and baby blue, she really liked it.

Her peaceful walk was disturbed by the sound of a motorcycle zooming up the hill to her school. The head of the driver turned a bit to look at her-she could tell it was Itachi. When she regained her silence she took a deep breath. _Time to start the school day!_

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

While she managed to ease by the morning without having to answer too many "Where were you"s and "What's up with your hair?" questions. By the time she got to Chemistry her mellow mood was still intact. She heard from a classmate that they were in the lab today and she made it there just in time. She slipped on the lab coat over her blazer, her black coat sitting in her homeroom, put her goggles on her forehead and walked over to her old station where Gaara was sitting on a stool looking amazingly bored. He was fiddling with a test tube and nearly dropped it when he saw Ino. He sat up straighter and gave her a smile that seemed more like a smirk.

"Hey, where have you been?" the red-head stood up and gave her a hug, causing Ino to blush a bit.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was on vacation. How has Chemistry been? Was it a bad thing I left?"

"Depends," he stated, "a kid named Kiba took off the same time you did so I was stuck working with a guy named Shino for a week and a half."

"Oh…" Ino turned around; she knew Shino. She saw the spiky teen working with Kiba, he seemed pretty happy. "Shino isn't so mad…"

"I'm not saying he is," Gaara responded, taking a seat back onto his stool, "I'm saying he actually forced me to **learn** things. Do you know all of the physical and chemical components of steel? Or the chemical formula for glucose or carbon monoxide or potassium nitrate or iron oxide? Do you know eighty-freakin'-five of the elements on the periodic table by atomic mass?"

Ino's eyes widened dramatically; Shino was really giving Gaara's brain a work out! She gave him a nervous grin, "I'm sorry for leaving you. My parents thought it was a good idea for me to relax… Forgive me?"

"Of course," Gaara gave him his signature, sexy grin. "At least one of us knows what we're doing now."

Ino smiled at him, blushing a bit, "thank you!"

"So, I'm happy all of our missing students are back, however we have no time for a proper welcome! The FANTASTIC world of Chemistry is anxiously awaiting our arrival!" Gai-Sensei yelled excitedly.

"Would you mind helping me out today, Gaara?" Ino asked, hoping the red-head would be her guide today. He smiled.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?"

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Ino decided to skip lunch. Her art class's current assignment was a self portrait, but it wasn't what she wanted to work on. She'd sketched out a scene at home; it was of a calm river with a forest-like background and mountains. Her mother suggested a sunset as well, but the blonde decided on covering the scene with fog and rain. The mood for the painting was set as the view outside mirrored the weather she wanted in her portrait.

The rain beat heavily against the window she sat next to and the scent of the water filled the room. Ino leaned back a bit on the wall next to the large window. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply; the sound was incredibly soothing. She set her paints out and looked at the parts she'd finished already; the river and forest were only half done. She restarted on the river and moved her hand along with the rhythm of the raindrops.

The classroom was empty and dark, the only light was from the window next to Ino, which didn't offer much. The opaque clouds covered the sun; but she loved this lighting. It was so peaceful…

She finished painting the river and moved on to the forest. As she started on a large tree her peace was interrupted by the sound of the door opening and hitting the wall. The sound caused Ino to twitch and she thanked God that she'd pulled her hand away so she wouldn't ruin her latest masterpiece.

Itachi came in-or, more so, pushed in. He was followed by a girl around Ino's height with long, blonde hair. She turned them around and pulled him closer to her. She leaned back on the teacher's desk and kissed him hard. Her hands roughly travelled over Itachi's body as she kicked the door closed. Said young man slid one hand down her side and, with the other, brought her knee up so he could stand between her legs. He sat her on the desk and leaned down more. He kissed her neck while her hands continued to rome his body.

"Oh my God, Itachi… Mmm, fuck me…" She lay down and wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing his crotch against her own. "Fuck me!" The blonde pulled him down by his shirt and kissed him again. Itachi kept his eyes open while she shut hers. _God damn, I hope she doesn't suck me… She'd bite my fucking head off._

Itachi looked up to see a dirty blonde with blue streaks in her hair painting in the corner of the room. A dark blush covered her face as she tried to ignore them. She glanced up in time to see Itachi staring at her and her blush darkened.

"What are you waiting for, Itachi? Fuck me!" she whined into his neck.

"So long as you don't mind us having an audience."

"Huh?" the girl looked up to see what Itachi was staring at to find another blonde.

Ino looked at the girl. She had slightly pale skin and green eyes, she almost resembled…

"Ayaka?" Ino asked in a small voice. "Ayaka Yukihiro?"

"Hey, how do you…? Wait… Ino?" She said, her face contorting a bit. "Yamanaka? Seriously? This is where you went!"

"Yes… I thought you were still in Mahora…?"

"I am! But I needed to see this mother fucker!" She patted Itachi's chest, he was now standing up. Ayaka sat up as well, the first three buttons of her shirt undone. "Well, would you like to join us then? This is Itachi and, trust me, he's one hell of a lay!"

"Umm, I know but I don't feel like that would be appropriate…"

"You know? You mean you slept with him too?"

Ino realized the words she'd spoken and slapped her hand over her mouth, blushing profusely. "Umm, what I meant was-"

"Wow, Ita-Baby, you sure as hell know how to get around!"

"Didn't I ask you not to call me that?"

"Aww, come- oh geez!" Ayaka stopped in the middle of her sentence when her leg started to vibrate. She took a black cell phone out of her thigh-high sock and looked at the caller id. "Damn…" she answered, "hey mom! … Oh, a friend had an emergency so I had to help her out! … Oh, don't worry about it, everything's fine! I'm in Tokyo… Yea, I'm on my way back now! Yes, mother… All right, I'll see you later!" she hung up.

"Damn… Baby, can we pick this up at your place this weekend? I have to go."

"You know you can't come to my place."

Ayaka gave him a hopeless look and sighed. "Man! I'll call you, okay?" She grabbed the front of Itachi's shirt and pulled him into a hard kiss. When they pulled apart Itachi stepped back and she hopped off the desk. "I better get going; I have my driver waiting outside, bye!" She ran out the door.

"Umm… Her shirt… It's still open…" Ino said in a small voice. "Aren't you going to tell her?"

"Eh, she'll notice when she feels the breeze." He then looked down to notice that his belt was undone as well as an extra two buttons on his shirt, "damn, she works fast…" He re-did his belt and the two buttons of his shirt. When he turned back to the dirty blonde she had started concentrating on her painting again. The rain was still pouring heavily onto the window and the recent silence had restored her inspiration.

"What ya been up to?" Itachi asked, walking to the back of the room towards Ino. He leaned on the wall behind her and looked at the painting; she'd managed to gather enough concentration to finish a few trees.

"Oh, that looks nice," he stated, sliding his hands into his pockets.

"Oh, thank you…" she blushed a bit, but continued painting. Moments later the bell rang and she set down her brush. She started putting away her paints and opening a different set. She placed the painting on the drying rack and Itachi watched her walk around the room.

"What class do you have now?" he asked. Ino picked up her self portrait, which had only her face, but not eyes, painted. She set it up.

"I have art now, but this is what we're working on in class." Itachi gave her a silent "oh" in response. Ino closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths; she was attempting to ready herself for the loud mouths that would be entering the class soon.

"You okay?" Itachi asked, sliding down the wall a bit. Ino nodded.

"Yes, I'm okay… It's just a lot of the students in this class are loud… And if I stay too used to the silence they'll give me a headache…"

"Ah. Well, you're pretty good at painting," he stood up straight, "and it's about time I go to class." He walked to the door and, before exiting, pulled his right hand out of his pocket and flashed over his shoulder his first two fingers and his thumb, which was his version of "see ya".

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The end of the day came more quickly than Ino thought it would. The clouds still covered the sky but it had stopped raining. She started her trek back home down the long sidewalk. Only after reaching a forth of the way there she saw a black motorcycle slow down in front of her, on it was Itachi. He was wearing his goggle-like sunglasses and a large, black leather jacket; he had his black helmet in his lap. He handed it to Ino, "get on, okay? It's going to rain."

"Oh, no, it's okay," Ino handed it back and blushed a little. "I think it'll stay dry until I get home, thank you though, really…" Just as she started back down the road she felt a raindrop hit her forehead. Within seconds the rain started and she found herself crouching over her backpack. Itachi looked at her and raised an eyebrow behind his sunglasses.

"Okay, I'm sorry… You don't have to drive me, just please protect my bag! My oil pastels are in there!" She gave him a pleading look and he got off his bike. He dug in the small compartment under the seat of his motorcycle and pulled out a small, gray jacket.

"Here," he said, "you can at least put that on it. Now put on the helmet and get on." Ino did what she was told and slid onto the back of the bike. She, hesitantly, wrapped her arms around his waist and he drove off.

When Ino got off the bike she was dragged through heavy rain into a small café. As soon as they got through the door Ino set her bag down on the closest table and removed the jacket wrapped around it. She looked inside to find her oil pastels in perfect shape; her eyes lit up.

"Thank you so much! But… Umm, where are we?" Ino looked up at the near empty café, the lights where dim and the few people that were there seemed rather relaxed. Behind the counter was a blue-haired girl with a rose of the same color sticking out of her bun reading a thick novel. Leaning on the counter next to her was an angry looking red head with several piercings. The girl looked up at the door.

"Hey, Itachi," she said casually, turning the page of her book. Itachi walked to the back wall and took a seat at a low table. "Hey, Konan, how's it going?"

"Quiet. Your company's soaking wet, by the way."

Itachi looked up at Ino; she was sitting at the chair across from him. Ino's uniform was soaked and slightly dripping; Itachi sighed. "You have any spare clothes for her?"

"Huh? Yea," Konan put down her book and motioned for Ino to follow her to the back, said blonde shook her head.

"No, please… I'll be fine, thank you though. I really appreciate it…"

"Look, you're going to get sick if you don't, so just go," Itachi said, rolling his eyes a bit. Ino nodded slightly and followed the blue haired girl into the back.

When the two girls came back Ino was wearing a slightly over-sized white polo shirt with the words Tokyo Café in bold, gold letters on the left side with long, fitting khaki pants. She sat down across from Itachi again.

"Thank you very much Miss-"

"Konan. You guys want anything?" she asked, standing in front of them. Itachi relaxed further in his chair.

"I'll have a coffee; black. Mix some vodka in there too, would ya?"

"Aren't you a little young for vodka?"

"Aren't you?"

"I've got three years on you, kid. You're lucky you look my age, though. How about you?" she asked, turning to Ino. The blonde fumbled a bit before answering.

"May I have a… caramel frappuccino please?"

"Mhm." Konan left them to make their drinks behind the counter.

_**TBC**_

**Author's Notes: ****I always over estimate myself when it comes to updates, my apologies! Just with school starting and all that poop -_-' I'll try to edit the next chapter over the weekend but there's sooo much crap going on! Eh, I'll do it when I start procrastinating instead of doing my Poetry Portfolio! Hope you guys enjoyed, I'm already working on chapter 10! I have no idea how many chapters are left, I guess we'll see!**


	9. Chapter 9

**The Thin Line**

**Chapter 9:**

Itachi's black motorcycle came to a halt in its usual spot under the stop light. The rain had finally died down and Itachi had volunteered to take Ino home after she'd changed back in to her, now only damp, shirt. The sky was still rather dark from the clouds, but the sun shown bright enough behind them to let them know it was still only around 4 in the afternoon. The pair got off the motorcycle and Ino handed the young man her helmet.

"So, are you actually happy to be back here? Or would you prefer to still be in Yakushima?" Itachi asked. The vast majority of their conversation back at the café was about Ino's little vacation during school. It became of interest to Itachi since the blonde had changed so much since their last encounter.

"Well… Honestly… I don't mind being… back… The weather is… So nice… recently…" Ino seemed to drift in and out of the conversation, her eyes on the completely overcast sky. Different mixes of pale colors ran through her mind as she silently planned to re-create the beautiful, sad sky on canvas until Itachi's voice finally pierced through her thoughts.

"Well, I guess I'll be going then. Pay attention when you walk through your yard, I don't need you tripping and falling on your face." Itachi hid the black helmet in his bike compartment and was just about to slip his leg over it when we was stopped by the blonde teen.

"Wait!" she nearly screamed, hand grabbing his wrist. Her hazy mind only just registered his words. Itachi looked at her, eyebrows raised and she blushed a bit, maybe her plea was too straight forward…

"Umm, I mean…" her blush darkened further, "thanks for… bringing me home…"

"Well, if you want to thank me," he grabbed her chin with his free, right hand, "there are better ways." He brought his face inches from hers and he could practically feel her heart rate increasing by the grip she had on his wrist.

"I… I… I…" she stuttered, her blue eyes wide with embarrassment. Itachi chuckled a bit.

"You…?" he asked, thoroughly enjoying the situation.

"Would you like to come in…? For lunch! I mean… Well, it's… the least I can do… you bought me coffee… And saved me from the rain… So…"

"Sure, I'll come in. Are you on the menu?" he asked. Ino seemed to take an extra few moments to register exactly what he was talking about before she could react.

"Yes. Wait, I mean no! I mean, I don't know exactly what we have, but… Wait, umm… I don't know… But, umm, well-"

Her rant was interrupted by the sound of Itachi's, slightly smug, laughter. "Let's go inside, I can smell the rain coming back," he said, pressing a lock on his bike and letting go of Ino's chin. Itachi seemed to lead her into her own walkway, him going first and the blonde being led in by the grip she had on his wrist.

When they got to the door it took Ino a few moments to realize that Itachi's pause was due to the fact that the door was locked… And it wasn't his house. She somewhat stumbled past him, her face the color of a tomato, and opened the door. The blonde led the way into the house and Itachi closed the door behind them.

It was Itachi's first time inside Ino's house and he found it rather nice. True, the colors were much to light for his tastes, full of lots of creams and khakis, but he also had to consider that her mother probably did most to all of the decorating. He slipped his shoes off and placed them next to a pair of loafers that probably belonged to her father.

"So, is anyone home?" he asked, having never really considered the possibility of meeting her parents. Ino shook her head.

"No, my Mom recently started working as a nurse and my Dad is managing a business that keeps him working from 8 to 6 on most days," she stated simply, stepping onto the hardwood floor. She wandered off into the house and Itachi followed her, mostly because he had no idea where else to go. She walked into the kitchen and he sat on a tall, beige stool at the bar facing it. He watched as the, nervous but calming, blonde girl washed her hands in the sink directly in front of him.

"So," she started, looking up only to look back down at her hands, a blush creeping up her neck, "what would you like to eat?" she asked. Itachi smirked a bit.

"Depends, do you want to cook something or can I suggest something that's already been made?" he asked. Ino gave him a confused look.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her head tilting a bit to the side.

"Just surprise me," he chuckled a bit, deciding to give her a few minutes of peace. After the blonde dried her hands she walked over to the fridge to find it very full.

"Oh, Mom went shopping…" she said quietly to herself. She then looked through the freezer and pantry, which confirmed her theory. She walked back over to the sink where Itachi was sitting behind the bar. "Well, you have a few choices. Would you like some mapo dofu, chicken nanban, pork shogayaki, kakiage soba or-"

She stopped when she saw Itachi's eyebrow raise, an expression that meant 'you learned to cook all of this when?' It made Ino giggle a bit. "Sorry, while I was gone I got to practice cooking some real Asian cuisine, some Chinese and allot of Japanese," she explained.

"It's all right, but how about making something simple?" he asked, sounding more modest than she'd ever heard him.

"Well, how about Katsudon?" she requested. Itachi gave her the hand signal that meant 'okay' and she went to get the ingredients.

As she bent over in the fridge to get the onions out of the crisper, Itachi made his way into the kitchen. The blonde made a small, triumphant sound when she finally found the onions and when she stood back up straight she found Itachi standing a few inches off to her side. A small blush found its way to her face as she closed the fridge and walked around the other side of the island as to avoid too much contact with the young man in her kitchen. Itachi chuckled a bit, noticing her subtle attempts to avoid him.

"So, how do you make Katsudon?" he asked, genuinely curious. Ino looked from her position over the sink back at him and let a tiny smile grace her lips.

"You can always just watch me make it, it's more fun than just explaining," she stated, setting down a cutting board on the island facing where Itachi was leaning on the counter next to the fridge. She placed a large piece of pork cutlet on the cutting board and picked up a large butcher knife that caused Itachi's eyes to widen a bit.

"Such a big knife for such a small person?" he asked, eyebrows rising.

"It's sharp and lighter than it looks, it gets the job done,' she said while expertly making incisions in the pork. She worked quickly and efficiently, sprinkling the pork with salt and pepper and placing it on another plate. She then washed the knife, her hands and the cutting board carefully, replacing it, after drying, to chop up some onions.

"Any reason in specific for why you decided to learn how to cook?" Itachi asked, for some reason enjoying the sight of the blonde chef. The girl shrugged.

"I wanted to learn how to cook real meals instead of parts of real meals," she said while measuring out a cup of rice and washing it well under some running water. She quickly put the rice in the steamer and went to the island to coat the pork cutlet with egg and flour. She jogged to the pantry to fetch some oil and got a large pan from a low cabinet. The stove was a few feet from where Itachi stood and there she filled the pan with oil and lit the gas stove.

"So, do you like cooking or is it just something you felt you needed to learn?" he asked, actually interested in what was going on in a girl's head for once. He watched as the girl sliced some onions into thin wedges and made some sort of liquid mixture in a small pan next to the larger one with the oil.

"I like it… When I'm cooking… I feel calm and… I just feel like I can do no wrong in my kitchen," she stated, the tone of her voice sounding calm and… somewhat out of it, like she was in a different world while talking to him.

Before the young man knew it, Ino was frying up the pork and cooking the onions in the liquid mixture on the stove. Eventually the pork was in the small pan and being topped with scrambled egg.

"Could you get me the rice paddle from the furthest drawer on the right, please?" Ino asked and Itachi nodded, not even having to actually look for the utensil. Soon enough, the food was served over steamed rice and the pair was eating at a low rise table in the living room.

"Want to watch anything on TV?" Ino asked, picking up the remote. Itachi dug his chopsticks into the rice and picked up a piece of the fried pork.

"You got UFC on there?" he asked.

"What's UFC?"

"It's pretty much what I do."

"Oh, okay," she said, turning on the TV and searching through the guide until she found a channel that said UFC, "oh, here it is!" she said. She selected the channel and was instantly brought to the sight of one man punching another in the face; the man being punched had blood almost covering his face and some dripping on to the floor. He eventually was kicked down by his opponent and the referee called the match. Ino dropped her chopsticks on the table, mouth wide as the winner was declared.

"What… is… this? Itachi, what is this?"

"It's UFC, Ultimate Fighting Championship."

"You do this?"

"Technically, I just kick box, but all my matches end up like this, more or less."

"You're a masochist…"

"Hey, they come in to the ring and know I don't have mercy so they're the masochists in this situation."

As the next match started one man was immediately trying to break the other's arm and Ino couldn't take anymore.

"I'm sorry, could we please watch something else?"

Itachi chuckled a bit at the girl's inability to stand violence and nodded. "Change it to whatever you want."

"Are you sure?"

"Yea."

Ino smiled and searched through the guide, immediately selecting something before Itachi was given the chance to read it. "It just started!" she said, slightly excited. There was a mother in a kitchen and a daughter in her room. Seconds later the words flashed on the screen "Reviving Ophelia." Itachi recognized it immediately as a movie his mother had watched with her friends and grabbed the remote, turning it back to the guide.

"Whatever you want except that," he stated, setting the remote control back on the table and taking another bite of his rice into his mouth.

"Then… what should we watch?" she asked.

Minutes later they were leaning back on the foot of the couch watching a documentary on anacondas on the Discovery Channel.

They ate in silence for a while, watching as two anaconda experts searched for the giant snakes barefoot in the swamplands. They finished their meal around five o'clock and watched the end of the show, for some strange reason giant snakes were unbelievably interesting. When the credits started to roll Ino took her and Itachi's bowls and got up, walking to the kitchen to clean them. He followed her in and leaned on the counter next to the sink.

"You seemed more interested in that than I was," he said, chuckling a bit; he thought that giant snakes would freak her out.

"No, I like to see that kind of stuff… it's fun to know things like that… Random little facts."

"Facts like what?"

"I mean like…" she jogged to the other side of the kitchen to grab the pans and bring them to the sink, "I didn't know that anacondas mate that way… I mean all the males wrapping around one female… I knew they needed males to reproduce given the fact that the males exist at all… but that's a weird way to mate."

"I know girls that mate like that."

"What do you mean?" she asked, chuckling a bit.

"I mean," the Uchiha slowly crept up behind her, "one girl wrapped in several guys all trying to fertilize her," he stated, wrapping his arms around her waist. The girl body froze but her hands still washed the pan. "All though humans usually refer to that type of mating as an orgy," he stated slyly, already sensing the heat making its way into the girl's cheeks.

"Umm, I-I…"

Itachi chuckled a bit and kissed her neck, "need any help with the dishes?" he whispered, enjoying how with each second the blush on her cheeks grew darker and darker.

"Umm, no, I'll be fine…" she stated softly, attempting to go back to washing the pan, but the feeling of the other's hard, warm body on her back was distracting and her hands were starting to tremble.

"Are you sure?" he asked, putting his hand under the water, "cause you missed a spot… right here!" he took a handful of water and swung it on to the middle of her button up uniform shirt, evoking a squeal from the girl.

"Itachi! What are you doing, that's hot!" she attempted to jump out of his grasp but he held her there.

"Oh, my bad, let me fix that!" he turned on the cold water and waited a few seconds to throw a handful of water onto her chest.

"Ahh, Itachi!" the young man laughed as she squealed his name and tried again to wriggle out of his grasp. A split second later he felt a large handful of water falling onto his head. This time Ino laughed as he was jumping back, it was a soft but thoroughly amused laugh that made Itachi half smile.

"Think this is funny, huh?"

"Quite," the blonde replied, holding her hand over her mouth. Itachi walked over to the sink and picked up the small hose next to the faucet and held it up like a gun.

"Still think it's funny?" he asked, the water running down his face and ponytail.

"Not as much," she replied, eyes widening.

She backed up quickly, but not fast enough to escape from Itachi. He caught hold of her wrist and spun her into his own body so her back was flush against his chest and sprayed her head.

"Ahh!" she screamed, fighting the forearm that Itachi had placed over her own arms. She managed to wiggle one free and grab the wrist holding the hose, angling it up to spray Itachi's head.

"Damnit!" she took this moment to get her other arm free and fight him for the hose, its spray going back and forth between them until the girl slipped in the puddle they'd created, her grip on Itachi's wrist bringing him down with her.

The thud that would have sounded was overpowered by the sound of the two's laughter as they fought. Itachi wrenched the hose from the girl's grasp and sprayed her shirt, soaking it thoroughly until Ino finally got the chance to turn the hose away and soak his own uniform shirt, his tie dangling from his neck, now dripping wet.

"How long is this fucking hose?" Itachi asked, tearing the hose away from her and letting go of the lever that releases the water. He kneeled over the girl and examined it. Ino got on her elbows.

"My mother is paranoid about house fires," she stated simply. It took her a few moments for the position she was in to dawn on her, lying on the kitchen floor with Itachi on top of her. The blush she'd lost at the beginning of the water fight returned with full force. Itachi noticed the redness quickly and smirked.

The Uchiha dropped the hose on the floor, dropping his face down closer to Ino's until he could feel the intense heat coming from her cheeks.

"What are you… doing…?" she asked, her eyes slowly becoming hooded.

"Want me to get off?"

"What?"

"Do you want me to get off of you?" he asked, wondering himself what the answer was going to be.

"Well, I…" she pushed on his chest unconsciously and Itachi took this as a signal to get up, but before he could get more than a few inches away she grabbed his shirt and pulled him back down, causing their lips to brush for barely an instant. Itachi raised an eyebrow, confused at the mixed signals until Ino spoke.

"I… I don't, umm… Wait…" she looked away and closed her eyes, trying to find words. "I don't know how I-" her sentence was interrupted by a kiss.

The kiss wasn't very long but it seemed to vacuum all of the air out of the blonde's lungs. His lips were warm and the taste was intoxicating. Ino felt her grip on the front of his shirt tighten for some reason and she closed her eyes hard. Her heart was beating so fast and so hard she thought she might die. He pulled back slowly and she opened her eyes to find herself staring into a black abyss. She'd never really looked into his eyes before… the darkness was… comforting, in way. She was about to lean in for another kiss when she heard-

"Oh my good Dear God, get up before your father gets in here!" she heard her mother's voice whisper frantically. She felt the heat of Itachi's body leave and she was pulled to her feet before she had a chance to think. She stumbled forward a bit but was caught by a firm grip on her arm.

"What's going on here?" she whispered again.

"What's going on where?" came the voice of Ino's father from the front door. Her mother's eyes widened as the tall, blonde man came to find his daughter and an unknown teenage boy soaking wet in his kitchen. At the sight he froze in mid-step. All was silent for a few seconds before his voice seemed to boom out.

"What the HELL is this?"

**_TBC_**

**Author's Notes: Finally, next chapter! I've been doing so much stuff lately . Well, I'm writing the next chapter, I'm sorry if it takes forever . Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Read and review and enjoy! Thanks for your support!**


	10. Chapter 10

**The Thin Line**

Chapter 10:

Ino and Itachi took their seats on the couch after drying themselves as thoroughly as possible while still fully clothed. The blonde's mother was sitting with her legs crossed, slightly leaning on her father whom was sitting back with his legs open, arms crossed over his chest. He sighed and rubbed either side of his temple with his middle finger and thumb. He then leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees and looked at the two.

"So… Why exactly did you two feel the need to soak the kitchen? Ino, you're mom just cleaned it, you know-"

"So, who's this young man, sweet heart?" the woman interrupted her husband's question with her own, curious as to whom this handsome male on her couch was, especially since it seemed her teenage daughter had brought him home. Ino fidgeted nervously and made a few sounds in her throat that seemed like bottled noises of anxiety before answering.

"He's… a classmate of mine… at… the school?" she answered warily, aware of her father's blank yet, somehow, torturous glare on the boy next to her.

"Classmate, huh?-"

"Oh, a classmate! So, you two are in the same class?" her father was interrupted again by the excited woman sitting next to him.

"Well, actually he's a year ahead of… me. We met during… lunch…"

"Ah, great! So, now that we know the story perhaps we can get an introduction?"

"Of course," Itachi replied bluntly, switching into a polite mode that Ino had never seen before. He stood, the towel used to dry himself draped over his shoulder, and outstretched his hand toward Ino's mother.

"My name is Itachi Uchiha, it's nice to meet you," he stated with an earnest smile. Mrs. Yamanaka stood and shook the boy's hand.

"It's nice to meet you as well, this is my husband; but I guess you already knew that."

Itachi's smile changed into an almost serious look as he reached his hand toward Mr. Yamanaka. The man stood, towering Itachi by a good few inches, and shook the high schooler's hand firmly, pleased with the firm returned shake.

"So," Mr. Yamanaka said, "you're in your last year of school? What do you plan to do afterwards?" he asked, re-taking his seat and leaning back, left arm resting on the back of the couch. Itachi sat back down and this time he was the one to rest his elbows on his knees. He intertwined his fingers and spoke.

"I am and I plan on going to University after I graduate."

"Oh, really?" the older man questioned, genuinely interested, "which school? Started studying for the entrance exam yet?"

"Tokyo University. Actually, Sir, I got a chance to take the exam early and have been accepted."

"Really? Congratulations! How'd you do on the exam?" Mrs. Yamanaka chimed in, even more excited now.

"Nearly perfect score, the highest of all the early applicants," the Uchiha answered, just barely managing to keep the prideful smirk creeping its way onto his face inside.

"Amazing! You're such a smart boy!" the woman squealed, gripping her husband's leg as several unknown thoughts raced through her head. "All right, Itachi, what do you plan on studying?"

"Well, it's a tie between-" a loud buzzing in the young man's back pocket interrupted his answer. He apologized and stood up, digging the phone out of his damp pants and checking the caller ID.

"Oh, I'm sorry, it's my coach, I have to take this. Please excuse me," Itachi exited to the hallway leading to the front door and flipped open his phone.

"What's up?" he asked immediately, knowing his coach never called him for just a simple chat.

"**Minami Kuro is challenging you for next Saturday, are you up to it?"**

"Minami Kuro? You mean the guy Hikaru was talking about, Killer Kuro or something?"

"**Yea, he said he's got some score to settle with you fair and square… Something about a girl named Misa."**

"Misa…?" Itachi paused for a moment, deep in thought then quickly re-emerged, "ah, Misa… That his girlfriend or something?"

"**How the hell am I supposed to know? Look, are you in or out?"**

"What the hell kind of question is that? I'm in. But I don't like the date, tell him to pick a new one next time you see him."

"**He's right here, why don't you come deal with it yourself?"**

"Hmm…" Itachi looked back into the living room in which he would be forced to continue the question and answer session with the blonde girl's parents and sighed, "can't do it. For whatever fucking reason I'd rather be where I am right now," Itachi answered, sighing inwardly.

There was a brief pause on the other end of the line before a quick **"all right, I'll work something out,"** and then a beep.

Itachi closed his phone and replaced it in his pocket before returning to the trio awaiting his re-entry. Itachi sat back down next to Ino.

"So, where were we?"

_**TBC**_

**Author's Notes:**** You guys I'm soooo sorry for not updating for so long! And this chapter is pitiful! I've had graduation and sickness and travelling and college stuff. Also, for those of you who don't know (or forgot XD) this story is a collaboration and my partner and I are no longer living together, we'll actually be much further apart than normal in a few days so we'll see what we can do :).**

**Thanks for your loyalty, guys! :)**


	11. An Apology to and request for my reader

**Hey everyone, I apologize for my incredibly long absence. My life has been progressing and changing so much. I've developed a serious problem; I've lost my inspiration. I've the will to write but the desire is lacking. I don't know what else to do with this story. I'm gonna rap seriously with you guys now; I hated everything in my life and my writing was an escape from my reality into one that I liked. But now I'm finally enjoying life, so I've nothing I want to write.**

**So, for those of you who read this out of interest or as an escape, what would you like to see? What do you want to happen? How would you like to see this story progress/end? Leave a review or message me with your suggestions and I'll try to make something you'll enjoy. Thanks everyone :)**

**Once again, I'm so sorry for not having a chapter... I hope I can make it up to you!**


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